Apologies Long Overdue
by TheInvisibleTeen
Summary: AU, Kurt gets hit with a blast from the past as Blaine transfers to McKinley after over 5 years apart. How much has Blaine changed? What happened to him? And is there any way to salvage a friendship with the new football player?Eventual Klaine set S2-ish
1. New Kid On The Block

**A/N: HI! Welcome to my latest fic. It's a WIP and currently stands at just 13,000 words so hopefully it'll be updated regularly. I apologize in advance for the amounts of angst in it in later chapters, Blaine's an angsty guy and has a long background that I'm trying to explain slowly (okay maybe a little too slowly sometimes) throughout this fic. I hope you read it and come back regularly for updates! here's chapter one, enjoy!**

* * *

"_You... y-you don't mean that..." Blaine said, unable to clear his watering eyes and see clearly._

"_Yes I do! God, just leave me alone already!" Kurt shouted, fuming._

"_Fine... if that's what you want..." Blaine sighed, wiping his eyes and getting up, walking away without a glance behind him. Once he was out of sight of the entire staring student body he ran. He ran and ran and never looked back._

* * *

"New kid huh?" asked a girl Blaine knew to be Santana Lopez, as she slid up to him in the hallway.

"Transfer," Blaine said as he opened his locker and started heaping all his new textbooks into the metal locker.

"Oh. From where?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in interest and leaning against the wall of metal and padlocks.

"Dalton Academy. All boys prep school in Westerville," he explained, still not actually looking at her but concentrating on his books.

"Oh really? Always wanted to try out a prep school boy," she leered.

"From my sources you already have, Santana." Blaine sighed as he shut his locker and padlocked it.

"How do you know my name?" she said, clearly annoyed from the rebuff.

"I believe you once knew my friend Sebastian Smythe," he said coolly as he began walking down the corridor, Santana close on his heels.

"Oh _Sebastian_! You know him?" she asked.

"Kinda hard not to. Biggest jerk at Dalton, therefore also a prep boy. Congrats on the achievement." Blaine grumbled and Santana let out a braking laugh.

"Wow. You sound like my kinda guy," she smirked. Blaine came to a halt at the end of the corridor in front of a large notice board and gazed up at it.

"You know, with the amount you're coming onto me, I'd say you don't go this all out to just any old fresh meat," he laughed as he grabbed the pen attached to one of the sign up sheets and wrote his name onto it.

"What can I say, I like a challenge," she smiled.

"See you around Santana Lopez," he laughed, walking away from her. Santana sighed and looked back at the board to where Blaine's name was now written on the sign up sheet for the football team. Well that showed promise at least. Maybe he wouldn't have his ass kicked before the day was up.

Three days later, Blaine walked down the corridor for the first time in his brand new letterman jacket, smiling as one of his teammates passed and gave him a high five. Strange how he could fit in so quickly here, but Blaine suspected it was for other reasons.

The same couldn't be said for one Kurt Hummel who walked down the corridor in a waterproof jacket, which only barely protected his clothes as the third slushie in two days flew into his face. He growled under his breath as he wiped his eyes and watched the perpetrators waltz off before heading for the nearest bathroom to clean up.

He barged in and ripped the plastic coat off and threw it into the sink, hanging his head over the taps as he turned them on and waited for them to warm up enough. He didn't care if there was anyone in the room or not, he just wanted the slushies to stop.

"I hear lemon's good for getting that out of clothes," said a voice behind Kurt. Kurt lifted his head quickly to the mirror and quickly spotted the letterman jacket.

"Like you'd know that," he scoffed. "When was the last time you were slushied?" he said, barely paying any attention to who it was that was wearing the jacket and returning to the sink which was finally warm enough to splash the water over his face.

"Well, for your information, just last year," the boy said, leaving the bathroom. Kurt whipped his head towards the voice but only caught the last glimpse of the red jacket leaving through the door and a crop of black hair. He narrowed his eyes at the sight. _Who's on the team this year?_

* * *

Glee club seemed a relief this year more than ever for Kurt as he could finally relax a little once inside the choir room. He'd received more locker shoves that he could count and it was barely the second week back. This year was going to be hell. He couldn't wait for this year to be over, then it would be his senior year and he'd be out of there.

He walked to Glee with Santana and Brittany the third Monday back, one on either side for protection though without them even realising it. He felt a little bad for making them into his bodyguards without their knowing but he needed it if he was going to get through the year.

"Hey Anderboy," Santana smirked as she spotted a boy in a jacket approaching them.

"Hey Satan," he laughed in return.

"Why's he called Anderboy now?" Britt asked.

"He's not honey, I just call him that. Don't worry about it," Santana explained quietly as the jacketed boy finally got near to them.

"How's Cheerios going so far?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back slightly in a relaxed pose.

"Hell. Sylvester's already got us on a crazy new regime that's worse than last year. I didn't even know it was possible to be this tired all the time," she shook her head a little in disbelief. "How's it going being the new wingman?"

"Good. It's different to how we used to do things on my old team, but I actually think it works better. Bieste is a great coach,"

Throughout the pair's conversation, the boy's eyes drew in Kurt. They felt so familiar to the pale boy. And that crop of hair, it had to be the same guy from the bathrooms in the first week back.

"You bet it's different. No prep boys round here," Santana laughed.

"Yeah well," the boy laughed. "Too stuck up there anyway. Everybody thinks the world of themselves,"

"Oh, and you didn't when you were there?" Santana teased.

"Please Santana. What do you take me for?" the boy laughed. _Anderboy - why does that sound familiar too?_

"Okay, I'll let you have that one then," she subsided with a smile.

"Why thank you," the boy said a little theatrically. "Anyway, I'll let you girls go. I'm sure you have class to get to. See you later," he smiled and continued past them along the corridor, letting the three Glee clubbers make their way to the choir room.

"Who's that guy again?" Kurt finally spoke.

"Blaine Anderson. Transfer student who joined the football team. Pretty good or so I'm told, though I haven't gotten round to spying on him much yet. He's friendly though. Not bad. Witty. Fairly confident I guess, but he turned me down the moment I opened my mouth, and that was his first day! Surprising really. I'd love to see how he turns out," Santana rambled as they finally entered the choir room.

"Blaine _Anderson_?" Kurt repeated, stunned.

"Uh, yeah. That's what I said. Why, know him?" Santana asked as she flopped into a chair.

"I... I used to." Kurt said. "We were... close..."

"Looks like someone's got a blast from the past," Santana said, glancing at the expression on his face. "What'd you do? Ruin his favourite jeans or something?"

"Um... not exactly." Kurt said as he sank into a chair.

"What does _that_ mean?" Santana asked. She didn't get an answer as Mr. Shuester turned up at that precise moment and saving Kurt's well looked after skin from having to explain.

* * *

"So Blainers, why haven't we made out yet?" Santana tried a month after school began again. Blaine just laughed.

"Uh, because I'm not interested in you?" he said as he piled his books into his locker and grabbed the ones he'd need for the afternoon.

"Why not? I'm a Cheerio, you're on the football team. We'd be one of the most popular couples in school, if not _the_ most. I'm hot and there's no way I can't say the same for you," she said, posing a little as she leaned against the locker next to Blaine's.

"You think that would make me want to date you? Because I'd be popular?"

"C'mon. The Cheerio's are practically untouchable and the amount of other guys who throw themselves at me it's unbelievable."

"Really?" Blaine asked, a smirk on his face and one eyebrow raised.

"Totally. We're freaking awesome and super hot. You should really try it out. Think it over Anderson." She said as she waltzed off down the corridor, throwing a wink over her shoulder at him as she rounded a corner. Blaine just rolled his eyes and left.

* * *

**Reviews are love people! :P xx**


	2. Bruises, Boxing and MSN

**Chapter 2 and we start to learn more about the mysterious ex-Dalton student**

Kurt's locker shoves got worse. _Way_ worse.

They all came from David Karofsky, all with a sneered comment and an angry glare and Kurt had no idea why. But no one seemed to notice. No one seemed to act on anything. Each time Kurt sank to the floor having been shoved into the lockers violently again or having his books thrown on the floor and pushed out of his hands, everyone kept walking. No one stopped.

Kurt groaned as he rolled his bruised shoulder one day at his locker when he opened it to find a small slip of paper had been pushed through the small vent-like slits that seemed a totally pointless addition to lockers. Wary, he unfolded it and read the handwritten note.

_'You know, you should consider joining the Cheerio's. You'd be a lot safer there. I have it on good authority from Santana Lopez that they are 'practically untouchable' and I think you could do with the protection. Although, please don't ask Santana who she told that to, I don't really want you to know who I am, just that I'm trying to help. That is, if this helps... :/ Consider it?'_

Kurt's draw dropped open in shock and it took him a moment to remember where he was. _Who the hell was that?_ _And why in the hell am I actually considering this?_

* * *

"You hear that fag Hummel's trying out for the Cheerio's? Sylvester'd better not let him in, I don't want to have to look at _that_ during a half time performance." Said Karofsky loudly as he grabbed a water bottle out of his gym locker after football practice. Blaine was the only one left behind.

"What's your beef with him Dave? So he's gay - so what?" Blaine asked as he shoved his things away.

"So I don't like him prancing his faggy little ass around school, let alone on the pitch." He said, anger starting to slip into his voice. "Why? You gonna defend him?"

"Well, half of the guys on the team are in Glee with the guy and they all don't mind him. You're the only one I know who's really pissed at him for being gay. So yeah, if it came to it maybe I would defend the guy. You got a problem with _that_ now?" Blaine said, shutting his locker.

"Yeah, he's a fag. That's not right! He is a stupid little fag and he's just parading it 'round school like it's something to be proud of," Karofsky said, getting very worked up now.

"What's your problem with it? So he likes guys - so what? That just leaves you more girls to go after. If anything you should be thanking him for freeing up the girls more," Blaine said, beginning to get a little angry himself.

"Are you kidding? He's interested in _us_ and I don't want that fag getting anywhere near me," Karofsky almost spat.

"If you don't want him anywhere near you what's with all the locker slams?" Blaine asked coolly.

* * *

"Check out Blanderson," whispered Artie at lunch the next day. Confused, the half of the glee club that had their backs to him surreptitiously turned around. Blaine Anderson was walking into the cafeteria with an attitude no different than usual, but today, he sported a thin white wrist support that showed past the end of his letterman, a small bruise to the side of his jaw and a very slight limp.

"What did he _do_?" hissed Tina across the table as she quickly turned around again.

"You should see Karofsky. Fairly certain I can add two and two and guess what happened," Mike said as he stabbed sullenly at his salad.

"What'd they fight over?" asked Kurt who looked confused to say the least as he turned to his own lunch again with much less commitment than before.

"No idea. I'd bet it was after practice yesterday. I was one of the last to leave. There was only those two and Shane still there when I left, and Shane isn't injured at all. But damn, you see the damage Anderson did?" Puck asked.

"I saw!" gasped Mercedes from next to Kurt. "He's way worse off than Transfer. Nobody was expecting _that_!"

"'Cedes he has a name, you know? You can't call him Transfer forever," Quinn stated, pointing her fork half-heartedly at the girl who - due to suspicions between her and the other three Cheerios at the lunch table - was soon to become a member too along with Kurt. What Sylvester had planned however wasn't party to their knowledge.

"Yeah, well." She shrugged, waving it off. "What can that guy do that we don't know about? What was his old school again?"

"Dalton he said," Santana informed. "Some prep school in Westerville. Didn't mention why he left though, but being a prep school I'd guess it was money,"

"Money?"

"Or lack of it, more like. That school ain't half expensive, all prep's are."

"And have you seen Dalton? It's like a freaking mansion that school! It's crazy,"

"Rachel, why do you know what it looks like?" Mercedes asked in a tone that implied she almost didn't want to hear the answer.

"I've already had a look at the school's we're up against for Sectionals. It's still a way off but I did my snooping into the other groups." The whole table practically groaned at her response.

"Rachel, give it a rest. We have quite literally months until Sectionals," Kurt sighed, tempted to fling a leaf of his own salad at her then.

* * *

**MSN Group Chat: Chat Room '_Glee_'**

_Artie - You're not going to believe this guys,  
Artie - Blaine does **BOXING**, that's why he beat the crap out of Karofsky.  
Rachel - Are you serious?  
Mercedes - How do you know this?  
Puck - It's true guys. DAMN he must be good to get around Dave  
Tina - HOW guys?  
Quinn - Seriously, what Tina said  
Santana - You aren't like, interrogating him are you? Because I would love to see that,  
Mike - Please, we're no Sue Sylvester. It's just a gaming night.  
Artie - You know how us glee guys have gaming nights most weeks at one of our houses? We were talking 'bout it last week in the locker room after football and Blaine overheard. He said it was a cool idea so we invited him. He kinda 'fessed up to it.  
Artie - Told us not to tell anyone 'bout the boxing and he went really quiet when we asked why they fought. He's not going to tell anyone, even though from the looks of it he won the fight  
Mike - Dude's got a bruise on his back too, saw it when he and Puck starter play-fighting over a controller and his shirt rode up a bit. Looks like a locker slam but probably from the fight.  
Kurt - I swear you boys are as bad as the girls sometimes  
Rachel - Hey!  
Kurt - Oh don't you play innocent with me Rachel Berry  
Quinn - Just to change the topic slightly, Kurt, 'Cedes, you're in the Cheerios. Message from Sue. You're to report to her office first thing tomorrow to get uniforms. Congrats!  
Mercedes - Really! That's amazing!  
Kurt - Seriously? You're not pranking us here?  
Quinn - Nope, text from Sue. As Captain I get the job of telling you. Well done guys. Welcome to the team,  
Santana - Welcome to our hell more like  
Quinn - SANTANA! Way to start them off..._


	3. Family Reunion

**A/N: A massive thank you to the wonderful Charmedmich for the review :D To answer your questions without giving the whole game away. Kurt and Blaine knew each other when they were younger but spilt up after an incident that will eventually be explained. There is going to be a full run down of Blaine's side of the events and eventually an explanation from Kurt as well but it's a short way off and I think adding it in sooner would spoil the surprise :P Kurt hasn't approached Blaine because he doesn't really know what to say, he knows they used to be close but he can tell Blaine's changed and isn't sure where they stand anymore. Blaine isn't in glee because that was never his intention, he didn't join McKinley for music but for another reason entirely which will be revealed slowly slowly to keep you hooked (fingers crossed on that part :P )**

**Please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Kurt! You look amazing in that uniform! We should've gotten you to join before!" Brittany smiled as she threw herself as him for a hug the next day after first lesson.

"Thanks Britt," Kurt laughed. "I have to say, it feels so odd to turn so many heads, but it's so amazing,"

"Oh you bet it is. Sue tell you her plans for the two of you? No offense, but you're no way up to basket tosses like we are," Santana asked as Mercedes turned up too having visited her locker on the way to the choir room.

"We're gonna sing." She said. "And bring it. 'Parrently it's never been done or even thought of to have someone singing live instead of using just plain old music in the background. She's already given us a couple of tracks she wants us to perfect so that we can dance 'vigorously' to them whilst singing. It sounds like a great idea to me," Mercedes explained.

"News to me but hey, sounds like a cool plan. You two divas can rock a mic, but you'd better be in shape. When she says dance vigorously she's got plans already."

"Oh, we know. From the songs she gave us alone we've got the message," Kurt said happily as he high fived Mercedes from where she'd sat beside him in the choir room.

"You two look awesome in those," Tina smiled as she entered the room and sat beside them, giving Mercedes a hug.

"I'm loving it already," she smiled in return.

* * *

'_Spotted the uniform, congrats on making the team!  
I'm glad Sue let you on.  
Hope you feel a little safer now, :)'_

This second note that had been pushed through the door of Kurt's locker made Kurt smile for a moment before he remembered he didn't know who the note's author was. He puzzled over it for a moment before shoving it into the back of his locker, past all the photos of himself accompanied with several glee club members or his dad. Instead he pulled out the list of songs that Sue had given them and looked over it again, smiling at the idea of spending the evening at Mercedes's house to listen to the songs and learn them. There was still that thought in the back of his mind over who his unnamed protector was but he pushed it aside, merely enjoying his newfound popularity.

* * *

"Hey Blaine,"

"Oh, hey Mike," Blaine smiled as he noticed his fellow football team member approaching him at his locker. Mike gave him a quick fist bump before returning to stacking his books.

"So, we're having another game night round my place this time. This Saturday night, you interested?" Mike offered happily.

"I'd love to man but I can't. Not this weekend. We're moving house on Saturday so I won't have time to join you guys," Blaine sighed.

"You're moving?" Mike asked,

"Yeah, not like, away from McKinley or anything. Our current house is still a half hour drive away from here and the new house is just ten minutes. It's basically to cut my commute down 'cause my mom's always paranoid," Blaine explained.

"Oh okay. Well that's not so bad then," Mike said, visibly relieved.

"Yeah, my big brother's coming down from Columbus too for the weekend to help us with the move." Blaine said, smiling at glancing at a photo on the inside of his locker and indicating out of the three boys in the picture who he meant.

"Columbus? Man, that's like two hours away."

"Yeah but it's nice to get to see him again. It's been ages since he's been down to visit since he started his job at my dad's law firm." Blaine sighed.

"Law firm? Ouch, that sounds dull." Mike said sympathetically.

"Yeah, they do pretty well out of it and they're constantly busy so just having this weekend to see him again is awesome. But hey, you guys should come over for a game night at the new house, say next weekend once we're all moved in?"

"You sure your mom wouldn't mind?" Mike asked as Blaine closed his locker and started walking along the corridor alongside him.

"Not at all. I bet she'll really want to meet you guys actually. She's always bugging me about you all and I think it would be nice for her to have some faces to put to names. I know she will soon when the football league starts up properly, but still." Blaine smiled.

"Awesome man. Well hey, I've got glee club to get to now but I'll see you at practice later then,"

"Yeah sure thing man. Later," he smiled, high fiving his friend before he dashed off down an adjacent corridor to his class.

* * *

"Blaine! Get the door!" called Michelle Anderson from the kitchen as she dished out the take away dinner. Michelle was never all that fond of take away meals but even she had to concede that for their last night before moving there was no way she was up to cooking anything with so little food in the house. Blaine was merely two metres from the doorway before a key from the outside opened it and nearly opened onto Reed who'd run to get it.

"I'm home!" called none other than Cooper Anderson, holding only a small backpack over one shoulder.

"Coop!" called Reed from where he stood right inside the door.

"Hey buddy!" Cooper smiled, pulling his tiny brother into his arms for a hug.

"Hey Cooper," Blaine smiled, moving forward to squash Reed in a hug between them.

"Hey! Don't squash me!" called Reed from their arms as he hit his tiny fists against Blaine's chest, causing the two older brothers to laugh.

"Sorry bud," Blaine smirked, ruffling Reed's strawberry blonde hair before speaking to Cooper again. "C'mon in, mom got take out,"

"Really? Sweet!" Cooper smiled, shuffling inside the door and shutting it behind him, keeping Reed balanced at his hip. He dumped his rucksack just inside the door and followed Blaine into the kitchen just as Michelle had found enough paper plates for the four of them.

"Cooper! Oh it's good to see you my baby," she beamed, kissing Cooper on the cheek as he hugged her.

"Baby? I thought that was still Blainers?" Cooper teased, punching his brother on the arm as he helped himself to Chinese take out.

"Coop!" he groaned. "What about Reed! He's five, surely he's still the baby here?"

"I'm not a baby!" said Reed unhappily, crossing his arms over his chest. His trademark Anderson hazel eyes grumpy as they stared up at the eldest of the Anderson boys. Cooper merely smiled and pressed a kiss into his tiny brother's hair.

"Sorry Reed. We know you're not a baby any more." Reed smiled a little, unable to continue his pout for long and making Cooper chuckle. "C'mon, let's get you some dinner eh?"

"Yay!" Reed smiled, clapping his hands together as Cooper fixed him up a plate. The three brothers along with Michelle moved to the sofa to eat as the dining room table and chairs had already been bubble wrapped up to secure they weren't broken during transport to the new house in the morning. They made a slightly odd bunch as the three brothers sat close together; though they all had that familial similarity between them it was clear which son took after which parent most. Cooper was almost spitting image of their father Walter Anderson; tall with dark perfectly coiffed hair and hazel eyes. Reed, though only small, still looked remarkably like Michelle, with his short and tightly curled strawberry blonde hair just like hers, his huge expressive hazel-gold eyes and round face. Blaine was somewhere in between, having inherited the family hazel-gold eyes (and how could he not with both his parents having almost the same coloured eyes) Michelle's curls yet in the colour of his father's dark brown. He was almost at Michelle's height now though Cooper was nearly four inches taller than her, something Blaine was heavily jealous of. They almost looked a family of their own with Cooper as the father figure except that whenever Cooper got the chance to visit home he turned back into his childish and immature self and couldn't be counted on to be responsible in the least.

The three boys leaned into each other comfortably, Reed sitting happily on Cooper's knees as Blaine leaned against his shoulder. Once the food was gone, they relaxed into a large group hug on the sofa, Cooper slinging his arm around Blaine's shoulders and Michelle joining them to sit on Cooper's other side. It wasn't often that Cooper or Walter got the free time to visit home, so their visits were always highly anticipated and enjoyed. This one wasn't any different.


	4. Babysitting

**Chapter 4 and some more of Reed being adorable**

"Mercedes?"

"Oh, hey Blaine. What's up?" Mercedes asked as she spotted the boy approaching in the corridor.

"You don't have Cheerios practice after school today do you?" he asked.

"Nope, why?"

"Because I need to ask you a huge favour," he said shyly.

"I'm listening," Mercedes asked, hand on hip.

"I need to look after my baby brother today as my mom's got a parent's evening tonight so won't be able to get him from school, but I have football practice today. So I was wondering if you'd maybe look after him whilst I'm at practice? He's real sweet and perfectly behaved. All you've gotta do it talk to him a little," Blaine asked, well... pleaded a little.

"How old's the kid?" Mercedes asked, expression warm and boosting Blaine's hopes.

"Reed's five and a total softie," Blaine said.

"Aw I bet he's adorable. Of course I'll look after him Blaine. No problem. Hey, I might even get Britt to tag along 'cause she loves little kids. You grab him from school and meet us up by the bleachers. We'll sit and watch you guys practice and he can cheer you on." Mercedes laughed happily.

"Thanks Mercedes. I owe you big time," Blaine said, pulling the cheerleader into a hug.

"No you don't." she laughed as she hugged him back. "Wanna tell me a little about him so I know what he likes to talk about?"

"Of course. Let's see..."

* * *

"Look Reed, there they are," Blaine whispered to Reed on his hip, pointing into the lower rows of the bleachers and waving at the three girls sat there. "Give them a wave," he added as the waved back. Reed waved timidly at them as they walked over, hiding a little into Blaine's warm letterman jacket.

"What if they don't like me Bee?" he asked.

"Oh, these girls are going to adore you. Trust me buddy," Blaine smiled as they got closer.

"Hey Blaine," smiled Mercedes where she sat, "I invited Britt and then Quinn overheard and just couldn't help but join us. Is that the handsome little Reed I see hiding in your jacket?"

"Sure is 'Cedes. And hey, thanks big time again." Blaine said as Reed smiled at the compliment and waved at the girls.

"It's nothing Blainers." Mercedes waved off.

"Wow, I love your shirt!" Brittany beamed, pointing at Reed's high school musical t-shirt.

"Me too," he beamed back. "Blaine got it for me for my birthday." he added proudly.

"No way! That's so cool," Britt beamed as Reed tugged on Blaine's jacket to be let down. Blaine chuckled and complied, setting the boy on his feet on the bench between Mercedes and Brittany where he instantly sat down and began a lengthy conversation with Britt over which HSM character was best.

"I think we'll have a hard time getting him to be quiet," Quinn laughed, smiling at the strawberry blonde's huge grin.

"If he starts being a pain tell him I'll hide his favourite sneakers," Blaine teased happily.

"I don't even think there'll be need for it. Now go on, get to practice before Bieste gets mad," Quinn laughed.

"Okay, thanks guys. See you in a bit Reed!" he called. Reed waved at his brother as he jogged down the stairs but didn't stop talking animatedly.

* * *

Just over an hour and a half later when Blaine returned fresh from the locker room and the shortest shower of his life to save the girls sooner rather than later, he found Reed was bouncing on his toes on Quinn's lap, his hands in hers as he explained excitedly about his new bedroom and the colour they were going to paint it. Mercedes spotted Blaine halfway up the steps and went to wave at him but he held a finger to his lips to mime for her to be quiet. She shot him a quick smile before returning her attention to the boy on Quinn's lap. Blaine crept up quietly behind them and when he was close enough slid an arm under Reed's and across his chest, picking him up to then dangle him by his ankles.

"BLAINE!" he cried, half in surprise half in annoyance at his new position.

"Hey buddy," Blaine laughed, peering over the top of Reed's shoes to look down the same as Reed looked up at him, though Reed looked rather annoyed whilst Blaine was trying hard not to grin and to feign nonchalance.

"Put me down!" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hmm... well you didn't say please so..." Blaine said, lifting Reed higher and lifting up his shirt to blow raspberries on his stomach. Reed squealed and giggled with laughter squirming as it tickled him.

"Blaine! Put me dooown. Blaine! Please!"

"Did I hear a 'please' in there?" Blaine teased as he stopped tickling his brother.

"_Please_ put me down," Reed repeated, giving Blaine his best puppy dog eyes.

"Oh alright," Blaine said, rolling his eyes theatrically. He slid an arm under Reed's back and spun him the right way up to sit on his hip. Reed looked a little annoyed still but pleased to be upright.  
"You have fun with the girls?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah! They're really nice. Quinn let me try on her headband!" Reed beamed, almost bouncing in Blaine's grip in happiness.

"It was so much fun to play with you Reed," Quinn beamed in reply.

"Bee, put me down," Reed complained, tugging on Blaine's jacket until he did so, placing him carefully on the bench between Mercedes and Brittany. He quickly pulled Mercedes into a hug which she happily returned before he hugged the other two girls.  
"Thank you for playing with me!" he beamed at the girls.

"No, thank _you_. We had so much fun." Mercedes smiled, tapping Reed gently on the nose as she emphasised 'you'. "We got to learn to much about you and your brother. Blaine, you never told us you play guitar,"

"Oh, yeah. I kinda taught myself to play it when I was 10 and made Cooper give me a couple of lessons here and there," Blaine shrugged nonchalantly.

"Reed also mentioned you sing around the house." Quinn said as Reed distracted himself talking to Britt again.

"He did, did he?" Blaine almost groaned.

"He couldn't stop talking about it for a solid five minutes. He thinks you're _amazing_," Quinn teased.

"Yeah well he would, he's always bugging me to sing for him or play for him," Blaine laughed a little.

"Well what if _we_ bug you to sing for Glee? You should join," Mercedes piped up, giving him a firm look that said 'oh you better do it boy'.

"I don't know. I'm not _that_ good, guys. I've not sung in a competition in ages," Blaine tried.

"But you have sung in competitions before?" Brittany asked.

"Yes he has!" Reed piped up from where he now sat on Britt's lap. "He was a Warbler! At his last school! I got to go see him perform! He was awesome!"

"A Warbler?" asked Quinn. "Would that make your last school Dalton Academy?"

"Yes it would. I was a Warbler for the six months of last year that I was at Dalton." Blaine admitted, feeling like the more he said the more reasons he was giving them to make him join.

"So basically you're saying you haven't been in a show choir since the end of last year? Right?" Mercedes asked.

"Pretty much," Blaine admitted.

"Boy, you are so joining Glee," Mercedes laughed.

"I dunno. I believe you guys are competing against them for sectionals and I don't know I could go against my friends there,"

"Aw come on. It's a fair fight. And it's not like you moved schools to join the New Directions anyway seeing as we're having to practically _drag_ you into Glee club. Which we can persuade Santana to literally do if we have to,"

"I don't know. Maybe. I'll think about it..." Blaine sighed.

"Well find yourself an audition song boy," Mercedes said, taking that as a yes. "You'd better show off your skills to impress Little Miss Broadway,"

"Thanks." He said sarcastically. "I think I'd better take this little guy home before he says anything else incriminating," Blaine said, giving Reed a look. Reed pouted a little but gave the girls all a last hug before he reached his arms out for Blaine to pick him up, ever the clingy child though Blaine saw it more as laziness as Reed just couldn't be bothered to walk much.

"For future reference, anytime you want us to play with Reed here, we'd be more than happy to," Quinn smiled as Reed gave her a cute little wave from where he sat perched on Blaine's hip.

"Please do Blaine! They're so much fun to play with," Reed said, patting Blaine's jacket to get his attention then giving him the puppy dog eyes again.

"Thanks you guys. I think Reed's gotten so attached to you I'm just going to have to now," he laughed. The girls laughed along and grabbed their bags from under the bench as they stood, moving to the stairs with Blaine to slowly descend down them.  
"I really appreciate this girls. You guys gave up your time at the last minute to put up with Reed and I don't even know how to repay you,"

"Join Glee," Mercedes persisted happily. "Than we'll call it even" Blaine just rolled his eyes and laughed at them.


	5. Auditions and Slushies

**A/N: Sorry in advance, this chapter's a little long but I couldn't find a good place to split it up.**  
**Thank you again to my wonderful Charmedmich for reviewing :D As if you read my mind, this chapter contians both Blaine joining Glee AND Klaine interaction! Apologies for how looong the convo seems, I just couldn't find a place for it to stop and I wanted to have them talk loads. oh well! ENJOY! :D xx  
**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"Morning guys!" said Mr. Shuester too cheerily for second period on a Monday morning. There was a general mumble of reply from the Glee club members who weren't that awake yet. Most of them had already assembled into their chairs and those who'd just arrived took their seats as Mr. Shue continued talking.  
"Well, I've got an interesting plan for this week's classes but I'll explain that in a moment. Ah great you're here," he said turning to the door to spot Blaine poking his head into the room to check it was the right one. He sent Mr. Shuester a smile as he entered, guitar slung over his back. "Today, we have Blaine here to audition to join the New Directions, something I believe several of you already know about,"

Most knew of Blaine's auditioning. Santana had learnt first thing on Tuesday morning at cheerio practice with Brittany, Quinn and Mercedes that they were trying to persuade him to join and she spent the rest of the week badgering him to do just that. He finally gave up on Friday and said he'd join just to get her to be quiet and she'd clapped excitedly. At the game night (that started at 4pm so was more like a game afternoon that spread into the late hours of Saturday night) the Glee boys all bugged Blaine to find out what he'd sing and he told them he was thinking about it, though he knew exactly what he was going to sing. They'd asked him anyway to play for them as they spotted his guitar on its stand in the corner and he gave in to them and played _Hey There Delilah_ for them. The only ones who didn't seem to know where Rachel, Lauren and Kurt (Tina having found out via boyfriend Mike) leaving them the only ones surprised (and in Kurt's case a little wide eyed) at Blaine's appearance.

"So I'll leave the floor to you Blaine." Mr. Shue smiled, stepping aside to lean against the wall and watch.

"Well, hi. I'm pretty sure you all know of me even if I don't know you personally so I guess there's not much point in my introducing myself. But oh well, I'm Blaine Anderson and have been corralled into auditioning by _certain people_," he gave Santana a pointed look and she had to stifle her laugh.

"Anyway, the song I've chosen probably isn't going to make any sense because it's in Italian but I still hope you'll enjoy it."

Blaine moved forward and grabbed an empty chair and pulled it to the empty space at the front of the room before sitting down and swinging his guitar round to play it. He checked quickly that it was in tune before strumming out the opening notes.

_(A/N: I really hope these lyrics are right! I don't speak Italian so got these online. The song is Tu Vuò Fa L'Americano)_

_Puorte 'e cazune cu nu stemma arreto_

_Na cuppulella cu 'a visiera aizata._

_Passa scampanianno pe' Tuleto_

_Comm'a nuguappo, pe' se fa' guardà_

By this point the entire room was slack jawed as Blaine closed his eyes and just played. He forgot about the room full of students and just played, lost to the music.

_Tu vuò' fa l'americano!_

'_Mericano, 'mericano,_

_Sient'a mme, chi t' 'o ffa fa?_

_Tu vuoi vivere alla moda_

_Ma se bevi "whisky and soda"_

_Po' te sente 'e disturbà._

_Tu abball' o' rocchenroll_

_Tu giochi a baisiboll_

_Ma 'e solde p' e' Camel_

_Chi te li dà,_

_La borsetta di mammà!_

As he began the chorus again he opened his eyes to gauge everyone's reactions. Mr. Shuester looked impressed, Rachel still unable to shut her mouth, Kurt held a similar expression but he'd at least managed to shut his mouth a little though his eyes were still wide, Santana was fanning herself, waggling her eyebrows at him seductively, Puck gave him a look that clearly showed he was impressed, Artie gave him a nod of confirmation that he was owning the performance, Mike gave him a thumbs up and Mercedes smirked in a way that told Blaine she was thinking '_not that good? Liar, you know you're good_'. He tried not to laugh at their reactions so ducked his head over his guitar again and continued to play.

_Tu vuò fa l' americano_

'_Mericano! 'mericano!_

_Ma si' nato in Italy!_

_Sient' a mme_

_Nun ce sta niente 'a fa'_

_Okay, napulitan..._

_Tu vuò fa l' americano_

'_Mericano! 'mericano!_

_Sient'a mme, chi t' 'o ffa fa?_

_Tu vuoi vivere alla moda_

_Ma se bevi "whisky and soda"_

_Po' te sente 'e disturbà._

_Tu abball' o' rocchenroll_

_Tu giochi a baisiboll_

_Ma 'e solde p' e' Camel_

_Chi te li dà,_

_La borsetta di mammà!_

_Tu vuò fa l' americano_

'_Mericano! 'mericano!_

_Ma si' nato in Italy!_

_Sient' a mme_

_Nun ce sta niente 'a fa'_

_Okay, napulitan..._

_Okay, napulitan..._

_(A/N: I highly recommend finding Darren Criss singing this on youtube and listening because it's an amazing song :D just a thought)  
_

With a final flared couple of strums on his guitar the room broke out into loud applause. He blushed a little and stood, taking a small bow and laughed when Santana wolf whistled at him, rolling his eyes at her.

"I think I speak for us all when I say that was fantastic Blaine," Mr. Shue said, appearing at Blaine's side and clapping him on the shoulder. "Welcome to Glee Club!"

There was a general cheer form everyone in the room (bar Kurt who was still a little shocked to do more than clap politely) and Blaine shoved his chair back where it came from and sat in it once more, receiving a bro-fist from Puck behind him and a high five from Artie beside him.

"Awesome song man. Where'd you learn it?" Artie asked.

"My brother. First song I ever learnt on the guitar. I pestered him to teach me the chords as soon as I'd figured out how to play them," Blaine explained quietly as Mr. Shuester clapped his hands together to get their attention.

"So class, this week we're going to continue our annual mash-off contest with a twist this year. This year, instead of it being a 'boys versus girls' competition, it's going to be an open free-for-all. Solos, duets and small group numbers, the line up of which I'll leave up to you guys."

The room buzzed with excitement but Blaine sat contented, running ideas over in his head.

"Hey Blaine, you do know what a mash up is right?" Puck asked behind him.

"Of course, some of the best songs are mashed up with others," Blaine smiled happily.

"Dude you should join our group, we're already planning a big boys number," Mike invited.

"Thanks guys, but I think I wanna go solo. You know, prove I'm not a one trick pony to you guys." Blaine said sheepishly.

"Oh dude, awesome. I'm totally looking forward to it already. You got any ideas?" Puck said, giving him a bro-fist.

"I got a few, it's picking the best that's the trouble." Blaine laughed.

"Well then class, I think I'll let you get thinking. You can leave when t he bell goes and I'll be looking forward toy our mash-ups," Mr. Shuester smiled broadly, clapping his hands together.

"Mr. Shue?"

"Yes Rachel?"

"The previous two years we've had a prize for the best mash up," she stated, her question implied.

"Yes Rachel. This years prize will be, as is tradition, dinner for two at Breadstix for the winner. I'll leave that as motivation for you," he laughed as the class buzzed with yet more excitement.

The end of class bell rang out loudly through the choir room and the class packed their bags away excitedly, some already discussing with partners or groups about possible song choices as they left the room. The corridor quickly flooded with students and Blaine smiled a little to himself as he headed for the music cupboard to store his guitar without it getting broken.

* * *

"Hey Blaine,"

"Oh, hey Azimio," Blaine said as he stuffed his books from the morning into his locker at the beginning of lunch, glancing up to see who it was before returning to stuffing his books into as orderly a pile as he could manage.

"Rumour has it that you've joined the Glee club," Azimio said, an air of disgust barely hidden.

"Rumour has it right then. Santana badgered me into it when she found out I play guitar for my little brother." He shrugged.

"Well then, whether you're on the football team or not, it's my duty to deliver you this as a present for joining the club," Azimio said. Blaine sighed and closed his locker door.

"I thought you might. Go on then," he said, opening his arms up in resignation and shutting his eyes tightly right before the mixture of ice, water, flavourings and red dye splashed across his face. "Thanks," he said sarcastically as he wiped his eyes clear.

"You really shouldn't be in there man," Azimio said before leaving. Blaine sighed and wiped as much as he could from his face with his palms before reaching into his locker to retrieve the shirt he'd stowed there for just this sort of occasion. He shook away the feeling of ice seeping down his neck as he headed for the bathrooms, avoiding the eyes of the few students not at lunch yet and deciding to himself that that had been the nicest slushie-ing he'd ever received.

He found the nearest bathroom to be empty so dumped his bag on the floor and shed his letterman, which was surprisingly slushie-free before turning on the hot water to run until it actually got warm. He pulled his white (though now mostly red) shirt over his head and shoved it into the sink under the running water. Most of the colour came out fairly quickly under the warming water but there was still a definite pink colouring to it, even after a good three minutes solid under the stream of water. He picked up the shirt and wrung it out, wringing most of the water form it before resting it on the edge of the sink whilst he bent to his bag to retrieve a plastic bag to store it in for the rest of the day.

"Oh... sorry," came a voice from the doorway. Blaine glanced up to see the Cheerio uniformed figure that was Kurt Hummel and laughed a little despite himself as he continued to rummage through his bag.

"It's cool," Blaine dismissed, finally finding the plastic bag and straightening up to fold his wet shirt before tying it up in the carrier bag.

"What happened to you?" Kurt asked, the door closing quietly behind him.

"Oh, Azimio. Gave me my '_welcome to glee club_' present." Blaine said as he splashed the now warm water from the taps over his face. He'd managed to close his eyes well before the slushie had hit and wiped away any that could have fallen into his eyes before reopening them (a trick he'd picked up over the years) so his eyes weren't burning, but he still wasn't going to spend the rest of the day with a horrid sugar-sticky face.

"N-no. I meant... _that_..." Kurt said, indicating weakly to Blaine's bare torso. Blaine glanced down at himself and almost laughed as he'd forgotten what a state he looked, despite having a fairly muscular figure now.

"Oh _that_. That's fairly old now," he waved away as he splashed his face one more time, and wiped down the back of his neck before straightening and pulling a hand towel from his bag to dry his face.

"That wasn't my question," Kurt said quietly.

"Who said I was answering it directly?" Blaine asked coolly as he pulled his clean navy shirt from his bag and pulled it over his head quickly.

"Blaine..." Kurt said, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Let's just head to lunch okay?" he said, straightening up and pulling his letterman back on, wiping down the slight residue of red from the front before picking up his bag and shoving his stained shirt into the bottom of it.

"I... okay," Kurt managed.

"Although, I'm ditching that shirt in my locker." He said carelessly as he left the bathroom.

"Blaine?... You know you can sit with us for lunch." Kurt offered just before Blaine was out the door. "I mean, I doubt you'll want to sit with them after they did that,"

"Sure. I don't mind. I'm one of you guys now, right?" Blaine laughed as he walked the corridors, Kurt a few steps behind.

"Right," Kurt muttered.

"I thought you were going to the bathroom?" Blaine asked.

"Oh. Well, I just spotted the slushie on the floor and went to the nearest bathrooms to help." Kurt shrugged a little, catching up to Blaine's side. "I thought it might've been Sam because he was our newest before you joined today."

"Oh okay," Blaine accepted. Neither spoke again until they reached Blaine's locker, and when they did it was Blaine who was first to speak.

"Wow, that was a fast clean up," he almost laughed at the sight of a slightly wet yet clean floor.

"The janitors here get annoyed at the jocks for throwing slushies. They ruin the floor as badly as they do shirts," Kurt explained.

"You know how I said lemon does the trick?" Blaine reminded as he spun his lock to the right combination and opened the door. "And 'jocks' huh?"

"Oh, crap sorry. I just use the term generally. I know it doesn't apply to everyone on the football team because look at Puck and the other guys in Glee. They've not thrown one since they joined." Kurt blushed lightly, embarrassed as he babbled to backtrack. "And yeah, I forgot about that. I tried it and I can't believe how well it works. Thanks for the tip,"

"You're welcome. I just thought it might help. I had countless shirts ruined until I found out 'bout it. Man, I still owe Jessica for telling me," Blaine said absent-mindedly as he retrieved his stained shirt from his bag and stowed it at the back of his locker.

"Is Jessica in any of those photos?" Kurt asked, pointing to the mish-mash of photos overlapping on the inside of Blaine's door.

"Unfortunately not. I don't have any of her left. I was gonna get a copy of her prom photo a couple years back but... never got the chance I guess," Blaine sighed, glancing at the photos. Kurt decided now was not the time to push Blaine for why he 'never got the chance' to get a copy of a prom photo from years ago.

"Who're the twins in that one?" he asked instead, pointing to a pair of blonde twins who'd evidently jumped Blaine, one on either side of him as they messed up his hair.

"Ethan and Evan," Blaine laughed. "The nutters. I had to keep a nerf gun to hand at all times when I was dorming across from them."

"At Dalton right? That's what the uniforms are," Kurt observed.

"Yeah. All the guys in blue are Warblers. Well, except for Dwight who didn't really sing much. We were all Ridgeway boys though, hence the red shields on our blazers" Blaine shrugged, closing his locker and clicking the lock into place, spinning the combination to make sure it wasn't still on the last number.  
"Lunch?" he asked, zipping up his school shoulder bag.

"Right, sure." Kurt said before adding a moment after they'd set off "You know, Rachel would probably kill to know all the things you do about Dalton. What with them being competition,"

"Yeah I guess. I mean, things have probably changed a bit in the time I've been gone and they'll have a new lead of course,"

"New lead? Who was their old one?" Kurt asked. Blaine's lack of answer spoke volumes. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Not at first. I arrived at Dalton very close to Sectionals last year so was excited enough to be allowed to be part of the chorus. But after we got through and I was told there were duels for solos for each performance they did I jumped at the chance. I sung for them and for, some crazy reason, they unanimously voted me their new lead. 'Course Sebastian was a little pissed; he'd never had competition like that before. He got distracted enough though when he started dating Logan from the Vale dorms." Blaine rambled happily, reminiscent of the times he'd spent walking the large grand hallways of Dalton Academy or ducking out of aim of the twins' nerf guns.

"Sounds like you fitted in there," Kurt said, a small understanding smile on his face. "Why'd you leave?"

"Many, many reasons." Blaine sighed.

"Care to elaborate?" Kurt asked, holding back a laugh. Blaine rolled his eyes theatrically but gave in.

"Well, firstly there was that I only got to see my family at weekends which kinda sucked and that was if I wasn't busy with Warbler practices for competitions or performances which, if I'm honest was kinda too often for me. Mom kinda needed me around to help around the house and I also really missed Reed. I wanted to be there for him all the time and it was difficult to see him at all when I was still at Dalton."

"Boyfriend?" Kurt asked, shocked.

"Kurt, Reed's my little brother." Blaine laughed. "I thought 'Cedes, Q and Britt might've made that common knowledge by now."

"Why would they have?" Kurt asked as they neared the cafeteria doors.

"I asked them to babysit last week whilst I had football. Mom had a parent's evening and couldn't get him from school so I asked if they'd watch him. They absolutely adored him and if I didn't love him like I do I'd be jealous," Blaine laughed. "Britt was practically captivated by him."

"Oh, right. Actually I'm surprised they didn't mention it either." Kurt mused as they pushed open the cafeteria doors and headed for the lunch queue.

"Oh well. Hopefully I won't have to worry about that sort of thing happening again now there's Sugar,"

"Sugar? Really? Isn't that kinda cheesy as a nickname?" Kurt laughed a little as he grabbed a green plastic tray and began to fill it with a salad and fruit juice.

"Not a nickname, genuinely her name." Blaine laughed.

"Wow. My bad," Kurt said, biting his lip.

"It's cool. I was like that at first. She's really sweet though and she absolutely adores Reed. When she came round last week Reed was practically attached to her the entire time she was round." Blaine smiled, remembering the excitable girl listening intently to his brother's rambles. "It'll be nice to see her at school soon. She told me she's moving to McKinley in a couple of weeks after they sort the paperwork."

"Oh, that's cool. At least she'll know someone already here then for when she moves right?" Kurt said.

"Yeah, she really wants to join Glee too. She's all about the spotlight, though not in the way Rachel is. She's sweet," Blaine smiled.

"It'll be interesting to meet her then, another diva for the Glee club," Kurt said, his smile a little forced though he couldn't figure out why it had to be so.

"Well, I wouldn't say diva. Maybe passionate." Blaine allowed as they left the cafeteria for the tables.

"Well, I guess we'll have to be the judge of that when she joins," Kurt laughed a little as Artie waved them over.

"Hey Blaine! You gonna sit with us today?" he asked as they got close.

"Yeah, why not?" Blaine smiled.

"Dude, what happened to your shirt?" Finn asked, noticing the swap.

"Slush." Blaine shrugged nonchalantly as he slid into a chair between Santana and Artie.

"They got you already?" Santana started.

"Yeah. Wasn't too bad though." Blaine shrugged. "I've had much worse,"

"Uh, how does that get much worse? Those slushies are like being bitch slapped by and ice berg," Tina asked. Kurt beside her gave her a nod of approval at her description and she gave him a small high five.

"Oh it can get much worse." Blaine said, dropping his gaze to his food to ignore all the gazes staring at him. "I had the bad luck to be on the receiving end of one that had been tampered with"

"What do you mean by _tampered with_?" asked Quinn.

"Oh, they added rock salt before they threw it," Blaine shrugged.

"Rock salt? But dude, shouldn't that have reacted really badly with the ice or something. If I know my chemistry correctly." Artie asked, shocked.

"Yeah. That one killed. I had to have eye surgery afterwards and promptly moved schools." Blaine admitted, stabbing at his lunch but not feeling hungry enough to eat it.

"What?" chorused several voices in shock.

"It was a while ago though. Like nearly three years back I guess," Blaine shrugged, looking up to see all their shocked faces staring at him.

"That doesn't mean you should act like it doesn't matter Blaine. They could've blinded you," Quinn said, leaning over the table to rest a hand on Blaine's. He gave her a weak smile in return.

"Well, it kinda doesn't matter. Not any more. Just because it happened doesn't mean I should let it affect me. And it was ages ago anyway, and I don't have any problems with my eyesight now. Sure I looked like a pirate for three weeks but my brother was really supportive about it all and decided to dress up as a pirate too so I didn't feel the odd one out, because apparently my brother's a dork like that."

There was an uncomfortable silence at the table as those seated around it exchanged looks as Blaine stabbed at his food again. Then Santana placed a hand gently on his shoulder, then Artie on his other. Blaine looked up at them and saw the genuine look of care on her face.

"Wow, Santana showing genuine emotion?" he teased, holding back a laugh as he nudged her in the ribs playfully. She rolled her eyes at him before smacking him lightly on the shoulder.

"Seriously though Blaine, are you okay?" she asked, placing her hand back on his shoulder.

"Of course I am. Past is the past and no matter what happened, it isn't happening now so why should it affect me now? I'm fine. Seriously." Blaine said seriously, looking her dead in the eye so she knew he meant it.

"You sound like a good spokesperson for some of the drama that goes on in Glee club. You'll fit right in," she said finally, making Blaine laugh and shake his head a little.

"Wow, what have I gotten myself into?" Blaine laughed.


	6. The MashOff

**A/N: To my ever faithful Charmedmich 3 the boys are such awkward idiots that they don't want to mention it. They've both changed so much that Kurt's afraid to ask what's happened to him in all those years and Blaine's just trying to get through high school in one piece. - Oh spoilers :P (PS sorry for confusing you :P)**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Blaine cheered loudly as Mercedes and Santana bowed from the auditorium stage, their mash up of Rumour Has It and Someone Like You had been amazing and a high standard to beat. Blaine watched as they jumped down from the stage and Artie and Brittany took their places on stage. He leaned back in his chair and relaxed until the music began and he couldn't help but move along with the beat in his chair, the Party Rock Anthem backing music playing loud over the speakers. Artie was a genius in his idea for his and Britt's mash up as was proved when a moment later Britt began singing Blow by Ke$ha over the top. It was a perfect match, her voice suited Ke$ha's like she was made to sing it and at Artie's turn to sing a verse of LMFAO no one doubted his mash up skills. The whole of glee club were out of their front row seats and dancing along when the number came to and end and cheered just as loudly for them as they made their way off the stage. Then it was Blaine's go, and he stood a little nervously, jumped up onto the stage and giving a nod to Reg from the AV club in the wings who smiled and shoved in his backing track disk Blaine had given him earlier.

"Take it away Blaine," Mr. Shue smiled at him form his seat amongst the Glee club members. Blaine laughed a little nervously but nodded to Reg once more who gave him a thumbs up and hit play. His backing track of Save The World began and he smiled, pleased that the CD hadn't messed up before singing.  
_(A/N: Britt and Artie's and Blaine's mash ups are by the brilliant TheProductionUK on Youtube. To listen to Blaine's mash up search his channel for Earthquake vs Save The World)_

_I can remember things,  
Things weren't always this way,  
I used to make you smile, if only for a while,  
But now you can't get through,  
There's no way I can lose.  
I know some days are hard,  
But don't you make mine too._

_Cos I can't stand it when you come home and we just fight for hours  
But I won't show it no I'll just hold my breath and keep it quiet_

_Who's gonna save the world tonight?  
Who's gonna bring it back to life?  
We're gonna make it,  
You and I.  
We're gonna save the world tonight._

_Every little earthquake, every little heartbreak  
Going unheard  
Every little landslide, catch it in my hand  
I won't say a word  
Every time you hurt me, I know that it's working  
Making you mine  
Every drop of thunder, only makes me stronger  
On the inside_

_How many countless nights  
I try my best to hide  
Soon as you slam the door, my tears fall to the floor  
I know that people change, maybe you're not to blame  
But must you burn a hole so deep into my soul_

_Cos I can't stand it when you come home and we just fight for hours  
But I won't show it no I'll just hold my breath and keep it quiet_

_Every little earthquake, every little heartbreak  
Every little landslide, catch it in my hand  
Every little earthquake, every little heartbreak  
Every little landslide, catch it in my hand  
Every little earthquake, every little heartbreak  
Every little landslide, catch it in my hand_

_Every little earthquake, every little heartbreak  
Going unheard  
Every little landslide, catch it in my hand  
I won't say a word  
Every time you hurt me, I know that it's working  
Making you mine  
Every drop of thunder, only makes me stronger  
On the inside_

_Every little earthquake, every little heartbreak  
Every little landslide, catch it in my hand  
Catch it in my hand..._

He finished to the Glee club cheering him loudly, whistling and clapping and returning to their seats from where they'd been dancing. He smiled and thanked them, giving them a little bow before quickly rushing down the steps back into the seats. Artie gave him a high five as he returned to sit next to him and together they cheered on the remaining performances.

At the end of all the performances, Mr. Shuester made his decision. He gave the win to Santana and Mercedes for their powerful duet and awarded them both a dinner for two voucher for Breadstix that they both squealed with delight at.

"I'd really like to include a powerful number like that in our sectionals line up girls," he'd added, giving them a big smile. They screamed a little harder and Blaine tried to hold back his laughter at Rachel's face.

* * *

"Hey Sugar," Blaine smiled as she exited her house on Monday morning and promptly gave Blaine a hug.

"Hey Blaine," she said, her voice high and excitable.

"You ready for day one at McKinley?" he asked as they walked down the drive and to Blaine's car.

"Totally. It's gonna be so cool go meet all your Glee club friends. I'm super excited," she said, bouncing on her toes.

"Sugar!" shouted Reed happily from Blaine's front step, the next house over from Sugar's, where he was attempting to tie up his shoes.

"Hey Reed!" she shouted back, giving him a wave. He waved happily before returning to his laces and frowning.

"Blaine?" he called.

"I'll be right back. Jump in the car," blaine laughed as he pressed the button to unlock his Mercedes Benz and quickly walked up the short path to his own door.  
"I thought you knew how to tie these up now?" Blaine asked as he unknotted the mess of green laces on Reed's blue sneakers.

"I do! It just got into a mess," he said. Blaine laughed a little as he untied the mess before securing his brother's shoes up in a proper bow.

"I gotta run buddy. You got your schoolbag?" he asked, kneeling at Reed's height.

"I got it. Momma's got my lunch box too." He said, smiling proudly.

"Good. Have a good day buddy. I'll see you later, 'kay?" he said, pressing a quick kiss into Reed's curly mop of hair.

"Kay," he smiled back up. "Say hi again to Sugar!"

"I will do," Blaine laughed, heading for his car where Sugar was waving through the window at Reed. He jumped into the driver's side and shut the door behind himself as Michelle appeared at the door, Reed's lunchbox in hand and waved them both off.

"Your brother's so adorable," Sugar sighed happily as they drove off.

"Most of the time," Blaine allowed as he drove. "I'm really glad he likes you though. Although you do realise that living next door to us means you'll be the first person we call to babysit him right?"

"I don't mind at all. Your brother's super cute and tiny. And plus I get to spend at least some time with you right? Because as much as I like your brother I still like you too you know?"

"I know," Blaine smiled. "And I'm really glad you're coming to McKinley. You're gonna love the guys in Glee."

"Today's gonna be so weird getting used to the place but it's gonna be fun to meet everyone. Wow it's actually a little nerve-racking right now,"

"Hey, you'll be okay. You've got me remember. And if you get lost you can always ring me and stuff right?" Blaine comforted.

"Yeah, thanks Blaine. You're an awesome neighbour." She smiled.

* * *

"Here we are, this is the choir room Sugar," Blaine said as they entered the already half full room second period that morning.

"Wow, it's awesome," she beamed, following Blaine to the chairs and picking a chair beside him.

"I'm glad you like it," he smiled back.

A few moments later the room was almost full and the bell rang to signal the start of the class. Puck rushed through the door before the sound finished and skidded into a chair, nearly falling over in his haste and earning a laugh from the boys around him. Mr. Shuester shook his head and rolled his eyes, clearly used to this before stepping up in front of the board.

"So class. We must be very lucky because for the second week running we've got a new member here to audition. The floor is yours for your audition Sugar," he smiled, beckoning her up.

"Hi," she beamed once she got to the front, tucking her perfectly straightened hair behind her ear. "My name's Sugar Motta. I just moved to Lima a couple of weeks ago and after meeting my new neighbour Blaine I've been super excited to meet all you guys. Today I'm going to sing Jar of Hearts for you guys for my audition song,"

The room smiled back at her, clearly intrigued and happy to invite another person into their midst. Now they _definitely_ had enough members for sectionals. Sugar beckoned Blaine up to the front and he slid onto the piano stool to play for her. She gave him a nervous glance but with a smile she closed her eyes and as Blaine began to play, she began to sing. As she sang the room relaxed, giving each other nods of approval and whispered 'she's good's as they listened. By the second verse Sugar opened her eyes again, smiling through her song as her audience smiled back at her. Artie gave her a thumbs up and she beamed back at him, putting everything she could into the song until with a final lingering note the song was over. The room broke into applause and she smiled, genuinely proud of herself. Blaine stood from the piano and gave her a quick hug before they both returned to their seats, just as Mr. Shuester returned to the front of the class.

"Wow, well done Sugar! That was awesome." He beamed at her, giving her a big nod of approval. "Now from one song onto the next; this week's assignment. This week we're going to swap it up a bit. I want all the girls singing songs originally sung by guys, and the guys singing ones by girls. I want to see you guys prove that you can take any song and make it your own, no matter who sung it first, got it?"

"I'm so singing defying gravity," Kurt whispered to Rachel and seeing the seething look on her face that he'd get to sing it before she did he couldn't contain his laughter.

"Now, I know we don't have long in this lesson for you go get started on much but feel free to start getting your ideas together. It'll be the same arrangement as last week in that you can sing by yourself, as a duet or in a small group. I'd really like to see a duet done where the male and female parts are reversed so if anyone's thinking about doing something along those lines that would be great to see. Apart from that, it's up to you guys." Mr. Shue explained.

"Wow, this is so cool Blaine. We get such free reign over what we sing," Sugar beamed, from Blaine's side, grabbing his arm lightly to get his attention.

"I know right? Although I doubt it'll stay this way when Sectionals get closer," Blaine smiled at her; pleased she's slotted in so quickly.

"Oh god, don't even mention Sectionals yet Blaine," Mike groaned, earning a laugh from Blaine.


	7. Swapping It Up

**A/N: Thank you to Michelle and kawaii01 for the reviews! gotta say I enjoy writing Sugar as more friendly than the bitch she starts off as when she's introduced on the show. I hope you'll love the Sugar in this chapter too! xxx**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

After some really great performances throughout the week, Kurt finally took to the front of the choir room on Thursday, leaning back on the piano slightly as he told Brad to hit it.

Kurt's voice rang out perfectly clear throughout the auditorium, hitting each note perfectly as he belted out the song. It was perfect for his vocal range, even Blaine could tell that and he wasn't the sort of person that got technical with music (Sure he loved it and could play the guitar, but not even his time in the warblers could get him that clued up over the technicalities of music). Kurt was clearly loving the performance and his grin only grew wider when he spotted the look on Rachel's face in the audience. She was somewhere between anger that he got to sing it, jealousy that he sounded so good and annoyance that it wasn't here up there at least _with_ him singing it.

As the final notes of the piano faded along with Kurt's final words the auditorium of Glee members burst into applause, cheering and whooping. Rachel gave him a look that said 'okay fine, you were amazing and I'm totally jealous' and he beamed as he jumped off the stage to hug her.

"Wow Kurt, that was amazing," Mr. Shue congratulated. The congratulations and cheers lasted for another minute or so until everyone quieted down and Mr. Shuester remembered he was in charge.

"Right, who's up next?" he asked the group. There was still around half of the class still to perform but most of those who were left were still trying to perfect their numbers before performing them.

"I'll go sir," Blaine offered. "But I've kinda bent the rules a little. I asked Santana and Mercedes to back me up. That okay?"

"Of course Blaine. Show us what you got," Mr. Shuester said excitedly.

"Please don't ever say that again," Santana drawled as she and Mercedes followed Blaine up the steps to the stage and positioned themselves.

"Hit it Reg," said Mercedes to the AV club member that always seemed to be around who stood at the side of the stage. He nodded and hit a play button on the large stereo system that played throughout the auditorium and the music began. Blaine stood centre stage, with the two cheerleaders flanking him, one on each side, just slightly behind him. The music swelled and filled the large room, echoing slightly off the walls it was so loud. Reg turned it down a little to allow for Blaine's voice to be heard, so that a moment later when Blaine opened his mouth to sing, his voice was perfectly matched over the music.

_After all you put me through,_

_You think I'd despise you,_

_But in the end I wanna thank you,_

_'Cause you've made me that much stronger_

Blaine forced himself to look straight up, straight ahead and to not make eye contact. Not with anyone because he couldn't make it look like he was blaming anyone. This song was so powerful that Blaine felt if he looked at anyone in the audience he'd end up glaring at them. They all knew from last weeks awkward Monday lunch straight after the slushie that Blaine wasn't as perfect as he tried to look. They knew his history was probably full of other things he didn't want to talk about, things that were worse than the rock salt slushie. They were right but he couldn't let them know that.

_Well I thought I knew you, thinkin' that you were true_

_Guess I, I couldn't trust called your bluff time is up_

_'Cause I've had enough_

_You were there by my side, always down for the ride_

_But your joy ride just came down in flames 'cause your greed sold me out in shame_

_After all of the stealing and cheating you probably think that I hold resentment for you_

_But uh uh, oh no, you're wrong_

_'Cause if it wasn't for all that you tried to do, I wouldn't know_

_Just how capable I am to pull through_

_So I wanna say thank you_

_'Cause it makes me that much stronger_

_Makes me work a little bit harder_

_It makes me that much wiser_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

_Made me learn a little bit faster_

_Made my skin a little bit thicker_

_Makes me that much smarter_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

The girls echoed him, emphasizing the _stronger, harder, wiser, fighter_... making the performance better, stronger in itself. They'd rehearsed just twice before with them adding in the extra bits and Blaine was so glad they were this good at improvising. They'd picked up exactly what he was trying to do and gone with it perfectly. So as he sung now, trying not to look like a stroppy little kid as he tried to play the song, finding a character in the words and becoming that instead of himself. As the next verse started up, he turned to the girls as he'd discussed and practiced in rehearsals. He let his character take over and saw the girls as the people his character would want to be singing at with the song. They played along perfectly, just how they'd planned it. Blaine ended up pointing his finger at Santana at one line and she rolled her eyes at him in character, waltzing off to stand with Mercedes.

_Never saw it coming, all of your backstabbing_

_Just so you could cash in on a good thing before I'd realize your game_

_I heard you're going round playing the victim now_

_But don't even begin feeling I'm the one to blame_

_'Cause you dug your own grave_

_After all of the fights and the lies 'cause you're wanting to haunt me_

_But that won't work anymore, no more,_

_It's over_

_'Cause if it wasn't for all of your torture_

_I wouldn't know how to be this way now and never back down_

_So I wanna say thank you_

_'Cause it makes me that much stronger_

_Makes me work a little bit harder_

_It makes me that much wiser_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

_Made me learn a little bit faster_

_Made my skin a little bit thicker_

_Makes me that much smarter_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

_How could this man I thought I knew_

_Turn out to be unjust so cruel?_

_Could only see the good in you_

_Pretended not to see the truth_

He turned to the girls again, shaking his head at them as he approached slightly.

_You tried to hide your lies, disguise yourself_

_Through living in denial_

_But in the end you'll see_

_YOU_

_WON'T_

_STOP_

_ME!_

Practically shouting he turned to the audience now, still looking at no one in particular as he pounded on his own chest, pointing to himself as he yelled.

_I am a fighter and I_

_I ain't gonna stop!_

_There is no turning back_

_I've had enough_

_'Cause it makes me that much stronger_

_Makes me work a little bit harder_

_It makes me that much wiser_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

_Made me learn a little bit faster_

_Made my skin a little bit thicker_

_Makes me that much smarter_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

_You thought I would forget_

_But I remembered_

_'Cause I remembered_

_I remembered_

_You thought I would forget_

_I remembered_

_'Cause I remembered_

_I remembered_

_'Cause it makes me that much stronger_

_Makes me work a little bit harder_

_It makes me that much wiser_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

_Made me learn a little bit faster_

_Made my skin a little bit thicker_

_Makes me that much smarter_

_So thanks for making me a fighter_

With a final flourish the song was over, the music stopped and the Glee club erupted into cheers. The cheerio girls behind him laughed and bowed theatrically, then moved forward to grab Blaine's hands, bowing again in a line as if at the end of a play. He laughed along with them, slipping out of character quickly and back to himself as they slid to the front of the stage before sitting down and hopping back into the chairs.

"That was awesome Blaine," Mr. Shuester said, clapping him heartily on the back. "I love all that power you put into the song. Great choice! I'd love to see how many other genres of music you can pull off,"

"Thanks Mr. Shue," Blaine said bashfully as the rest of the Glee club congratulated him. The bell rang out loudly around them and the Glee club slowly returned to their bags where they'd left them in the aisle. The bell meant it was the end of the day and Blaine was looking forward to the day as it meant he was able to go straight home and not worry about football. He let his thoughts trail off into planning a boxing session with the punch bag in his basement bedroom before he set upon his Calculus homework when a hand tapped him gently on the shoulder.

"Blaine, can I talk to you?" Blaine turned around to see Kurt behind him, fidgeting slightly where he stood, his fingers playing at the strap of his satchel.

"Sure, one sec." Blaine shrugged before spotting Sugar up ahead.  
"Hey Sugar?" he called up to her.

"Yeah?" she called back, waiting at the top of the stairs.

"I'm gonna be a second. Wait for me at the car, yeah?" he said, digging his keys out of his pocket and throwing them to her. She caught them before they hit the floor and she smiled at him, proud of her catching skills.

"Sure. See you in a mo," she said as she left, catching up to join back into her conversation with Brittany. Blaine continued walking though slowly so Kurt could talk to him, and Kurt followed suit.

"Are you okay?" he asked a little nervously as they walked through the auditorium doors.

"Sure. What gave you an impression of things being otherwise?" Blaine asked, a little confused.

"Well... you don't always say a lot." Kurt said hesitantly.

"Don't always have to. I'm not as loud as some people. I think Rachel and I are almost polar opposites," Blaine laughed.

"Well, she tries all the time to get everyone's attention, and you're saying that by being on the football team you _aren't_?" Kurt asked.

"This coming from the guy on the Cheerios." Blaine said, giving Kurt a sideways glance that caused him to blush.

"It's not like that." Kurt mumbled.

"We're both on our respective clubs for the same reasons Kurt," Blaine explained, not looking at him as he walked the corridor, without really making a conscious effort but realising he was heading for his locker. He then remembered he needed his calculus textbook and thank god his brain remembered these things else he would've gone home without it and Mrs Abernathy would've killed him for not doing the homework.

"How'd you know I don't just want to be a Cheerio because I want to be more athletic?" Kurt asked, almost taken aback but Blaine just snorted.

"Please Kurt. Really? You think I'm going to believe that?" he laughed quietly, shaking his head. "I know exactly why you joined."

"What? What're you on about Blaine?" Kurt asked, trying to hide his panic.

"I was the one that suggested it," Blaine said pointedly, not looking at Kurt as he approached his locker. He fiddled with the combination as Kurt stood a few feet away shocked.

"It was _you_? They were _your_ notes," he finally managed to say as Blaine swung open his locker door.

"Yup," Blaine said, his lips making a popping sound on the 'p' as he carefully extracted his textbook from the bottom of his pile of books.

"Wh... why?" Kurt asked.

"Why what?"

"Why'd you stick them in my locker? Why'd you suggest it? How'd you even notice when nobody else did?" Kurt said, coming back to his senses and regaining the ability to speak. "And wow, your handwriting's changed since you were eleven," That last comment made Blaine laugh but it faded to a sigh.

"Well I guess I'll go with the order you said them in. I stuck them in your locker because you needed to know that even though people don't always say something it doesn't mean they don't notice. I suggested it because after Santana said they were untouchable it seemed like a perfect idea, getting you to a place on the complex social ladder of the school where you couldn't be targeted because you were a Cheerio. I noticed because every time I walked down the same corridor as you you'd spot the jacket and flinch, you'd make yourself scarce at the sight of any letterman jacket and I've seen enough locker dents at this school to know it's like most others. And yes, my handwriting has changed since I was eleven. I'm surprised you even remember what it used to look like you noticed though I'm not surprised in the least that it's nothing like it used to be." Blaine said, facing Kurt as he spoke. He then turned as he finished his mini speech and shut his locker again before starting to walk away.

"Wait! Woah, you think you can unload all of that on me and just walk away?" Kurt said, rushing to move to reach his side again. "This might actually be beginning to make sense. And you had that fight with Karofsky! Oh my god! Did you confront him because you noticed?"

"Hey, he started that one." Blaine defended, "Started complaining about how you were trying out for the Cheerios and I started asking what his problem was. Voices and tempers escalated a bit... okay a lot. And he threw the first punch. Badly, mind you. He's a terrible shot. Then again I've had my fair share of fights and now with the boxing I'm a lot better a fighter anyway," Blaine said, rambling to himself now.

"Oh my god, you actually fought over me. I started that fight. Wait, 'your fair share of fights'?" Kurt said, brain having to race to keep up.

"Remember how my handwriting's changed?" Blaine asked, stopping just before the doors towards the student parking lot and turning to face Kurt who stopped beside him.

"Yes." Kurt said, brain quickly back tracking. _Then_ the penny dropped. "Did you break your wrist?"

"Technically, **I** wasn't the one to break it. But I guess it ends with the same conclusion, yes." Blaine said, anger trickling through along with the memories now though he tried to keep it from his tone as Kurt wasn't the one he was pissed at for that incident.

"Let me get this straight. In the past you've had a rock salt laced slushie thrown at you and had to have eye surgery-"

"-Ah so that didn't get forgotten. Pity-"

"-You've had several other slushies thrown at you from the way you told me about the lemon trick." Kurt continued as if Blaine hadn't interjected. "You had slushies thrown at you as recent as last year from your fleeting statement when you first told me about the lemon trick in the first week back-"

"-Oh so you do listen to me, that's nice to know I guess-"

"-You've had your wrist broken _by someone else_. You've gotten into a fight with Karofsky - which was essentially over my joining the Cheerios, that you convinced me to do. What the hell happened to you Blaine?" Kurt asked. His tone wasn't pleading for an answer. It wasn't even sorry. It was almost accusatory, close to shouting in volume.

"Oh so **now** you care?" Blaine asked, anger flooding his veins in a sharp rush.

"Blaine..." Kurt practically whispered, unable to hold Blaine's gaze.

"I don't have to explain anything to you Kurt. I don't owe you any sort of explanation. I don't even know why I tried to help you out with Karofsky, clearly all it's done is give you more time to feel good about yourself and push further into the past what you did to me."

"Blaine I... about that I..."

"You what? In fact, you know what? I'm done explaining myself. I'm outta here," Blaine said, pushing the doors open and storming outside towards the few cars still parked outside.

Kurt could only stand still in shock, mouth still open as if expecting words to form themselves as his brain tried to work fast to catch up. Blaine walked towards his car, trying to calm himself down as much as possible so that by the time he reached his car where Sugar was sat inside texting he could plaster a fake smile over his face and pretend to be okay until he got home. Sugar didn't suspect anything and Blaine was glad for it. As soon as he was home alone - as Michelle had left a note on the fridge saying she'd taken Reed grocery shopping - he thunked down the stairs to his basement bedroom, changed his clothes and picked up his boxing gloves.


	8. Halftime

**A/N: Wow, two updates today? I'm getting through this quick! :P A little more Klaine interaction, Kurt's first Cheerio performance, Blaine's first football game and it doesn't end how he'd hoped it to... :D xx**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"Mr. Shue, is it okay if I also dedicate my song to someone?" Rachel asked as she took to the front of the class and sat on her stool in the middle of the empty space.

"Uh, I guess." He shrugged. Rachel beamed and nodded at Brad who began to play the intro to her song.

_I can't win, I can't reign_

_I will never win this game_

_Without you, without you_

_I am lost, I am vain,_

_I will never be the same_

_Without you, without you_

Rachel's song was brilliant, how she'd managed to turn a David Guetta track into a classical ballad was confusing but nonetheless amazing. She spent the entire song either looking at the floor, smiling despite herself or gazing at boyfriend Finn who stared happily back at her, mouth slightly open and eyes grateful and full of love. It was almost sickening but Blaine still enjoyed the song. Once it was over the room clapped, Santana rolling her eyes and pretending to gag on how sickly the song was until Blaine elbowed her in the ribs and she laughed. Rachel shrugged sheepishly as she jumped off the stool and slid back to her usual chair beside Finn.

"That was amazing Rach," he beamed, kissing her cheek.

"More like vomit-inducing" Santana jibed earning a small laugh of several people.

"I will say that was a great song Rachel. Such a change from the original version. Great work all of you guys on your assignment this week. You all did really well on making those songs your own. Well the bell's about to go so I'll wish you all good luck for tonight's game, Cheerio and Titan's alike. I hope you guys do well and have a great start to the season," Mr. Shue smiled. The bell rang just as he finished talking so he let them all go. Blaine shouldered his bag and followed the crowd outside enjoying the buzz of excitement that came with being in his first football game of the season.

"Blaine?"

Of course it was Kurt's voice that called Blaine's name in the corridor. Blaine sighed quietly but turned to face him.

"Yes?" he said, trying to keep his tone patient. He'd admittedly been avoiding Kurt all day after blowing up at him yesterday but he wasn't really sure he wanted to talk to Kurt.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I... you're right, you don't owe me an explanation. I just... I wanted to understand."

"Well, apology accepted I guess. I think you vaguely understand now that I'm not as calm and collected as I'd like people to believe. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell everyone though. I don't need peoples pity parties," Blaine said as calm and collected as he could manage.

"I, yes of course. I'm sorry Blaine. I didn't mean to..." Kurt said.

"I know. You just want to understand. Although from where I'm standing you probably _don't_ want to understand. It's better you don't know really,"

"Blaine... I want to help. I know you say you don't want people's pity but I still want to help... you helped me with those notes and didn't even ask for a thank you. I want to repay the favour at least," Kurt said, trying desperately to get through to Blaine.

"You don't have to. Just... I'm fine." Blaine sighed. He didn't look anything like fine to Kurt but he bit his tongue and nodded.

"Okay well... good luck for the game tonight." Kurt said, smiling weakly.

"I don't doubt you'll be cheering us on," Blaine laughed weakly. "It'll be interesting to see you and Mercedes in action,"

"Oh I don't doubt that," Kurt laughed. "We're going to bring it,"

* * *

"Yo Blaine,"

"Yeah?" Blaine said, looking up after wiping the sweat from his face at half time.

"C'mon. The show's just about to start." Puck said, beckoning him along with the other remaining guys to the changing room doors and back to the pitch.

The entire team headed outside and leant against the railings at the side of the pitch to wait for the show. Sure enough, the crowd went quiet as the marching band trooped out, playing the introduction for 4 Minutes. Kurt and Mercedes came out first, followed by the rest of the Cheerios whose dancing was perfectly synchronised. Their routine for the song was all on the floor yet still perfectly seductive enough to get the crowd going. When the song ended the marching band continued playing, the song morphing into a new one. As the first line was delivered by Kurt Blaine knew the song exactly; Good Girls Gone Bad. Thinking about it, it was a great cheer song and as Kurt took control for the first verse the Cheerios behind him started to be thrown into the air, the complex pyramids and basket tosses rolling smoothly together into a perfect performance. The whole crowd was on their feet, cheering along and screaming out the lyrics whenever they knew them. By the time the number was over everyone was screaming in applause, the Cheerios, clearly having won over the home ground crowd.

"C'mon guys, let's kick some ass!" called Finn to the team, leading the way back out onto the field.

* * *

"Blaine! You okay?" Called Mike as he ran over.

"Not really," Blaine grimaced from his position on the floor having been thrown there moments ago by a member of the other team. Mike was at his side in a moment and soon Puck too rushed over from his position on the field.

"What happened?" Puck asked.

"Number 7 slammed me on the floor," Blaine winced as he tried to sit up. He grabbed the hand Mike held out for him to pull himself up but almost fell as he tried to put pressure on his left foot. Puck and Mike supported him before he could fall and Sam who was nearby and was moving over to help out whistled at the medics on stand by at the side of the pitch. They ran on quickly and checked over Blaine.

"Can you put any pressure on your foot Anderson?" asked the medic as he examined it. It looked badly twisted and Blaine winced as the medic tried to hold it still to examine it.

"I don't think so," Blaine said through his teeth.

"C'mon. Let's get you off the pitch. Someone tell Bieste to send on a sub,"

"You guys still better win this game you know," Blaine said, clapping Mike on the shoulder as he was helped to limp off the pitch.

"Oh we will man. Take it easy Blaine" Mike said sympathetically. Blaine nodded in response and continued to limp off the pitch.

"Mr. Anderson do you have any previous injuries? This might end up being worse than it should be if you've injured your foot before," the medic (_it says Bill on the tag Blaine, stop calling him 'the medic' in your head) _asked as he examined Blaine's foot tentatively, trying to straighten it out.

"Uh, yeah, a lot. But I've only fractured my foot before if that's what you're asking." Blaine said through gritted teeth as gripped hard on the back of the bench, both to keep himself upright and to have something to do instead of crying out in pain.

"Well luckily for you I don't think it's broken or fractured. A bad sprain I think but you should get it X-rayed to confirm that." Bill said.

"Right." Blaine said.

"Is there anyone here that could drive you there? I have to stay in case there's any more accidents on the pitch." Bill said.

"Uh, my mom's here. She's in the stands." Blaine said, glancing up to the stands and the mass of people there. There was no way he'd be able to spot her but she'd probably have tried to make her way down the stands after Blaine was pulled off the pitch.  
"Hey Q!" he called out.

Quinn, who was stood not far off and looking as concerned as the other Cheerios who'd all stuck around the side of the pitch after their performance, rushed over quickly to Blaine's side. "You reckon you can grab my mom from the stands? She should be with Reed,"

"Of course Blaine. I'll be right back." She said before disappearing into the crowds.

"Blaine you're going to need to take some pain killers so they can look at it properly at hospital. I need your consent before I can give you any though," Bill said as he rummaged through a bag at his feet.

"Uh, yeah sure. You have my consent then," he said as Bill produced a small box of aspirin. He handed over two of the capsules along with a bottle of water and Blaine quickly threw back the pills, swallowing them down with a glug of water.

"Blaine! Are you okay honey?" came the voice of Michelle Anderson as she rushed over, Reed on her hip.

"Yeah. They says it's probably a bad sprain," Blaine said, trying to act calm for her.

"He needs to go to hospital to check it over and get an X-ray." Bill informed.

"Okay. We'll go right away. Oh shoot, Reed." She said, remembering her youngest son. Both Blaine and Michelle knew it was sure to take an age at the hospital.

"Quinn, you reckon you could look after Reed again? Find Sugar too, I'm sure she's around. Tell her to take Reed home after the game's finished and wait round hers till we get back." Blaine said, keeping his head cool and clear as the painkillers began to kick in and let him think about something else apart from his foot.

"Of course." She said, nodding. "We'll take good care of Reed, Mrs Anderson. Don't you worry, and you know Sugar's great with him," she reassured. Michelle looked doubtful for a moment before she made up her mind.

"You okay Bee?" Reed asked, worried in her arms.

"Yeah I'm gonna be okay Reed. I just need you to stick around here with Quinn and Sugar for a while whilst they fix me up. You reckon you can do that for me buddy?" Blaine said reassuringly to his little brother. Reed pursed his lips worriedly but nodded, holding out his arms for Quinn to grab him.

"C'mon little guy. Jump on my back," Quinn said, and Michelle helped Reed climb into a secure piggyback position, his tiny hands on her shoulders as Quinn slipped hers behind her to hold Reed in place on her back. "You okay up there?"

"Yeah, it's weird up here," he noted before resting his chin on her shoulder. "You'll be okay though Bee? Just like last time? You'll be okay?"

"Of course I will Reed. Just like last time. I always make it out okay, remember?" Blaine said as he slid an arm around Michelle's shoulders and let her help him stand on one leg. Reed nodded and hid his face in Quinn's shoulders, pressing his forehead into her shoulder blades and she looked back at him worried.  
"He got really upset last time I was in hospital. Just keep telling him I'll be fine and he'll be alright. Distract him and stuff and he'll be okay," Blaine whispered quietly to Quinn who nodded quickly.

"I'll find Sugar. You get to the hospital," she said, smiling reassuringly.

"Hey, I'll be fine. I'll see you on Monday, if not before." Blaine said, shooting her a grateful smile. "And thanks for this,"

"No problem," she said.

* * *

"Mom, I'm fine. Stop fussing," he said reassuringly as they bandaged him up.

"I know I just... I worry about you loads okay?" she sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Hey, don't. I'm fine. Just a hairline fracture. It's practically nothing." Blaine said, as the nurse pulled out a drawer to find the things she needed for a plaster cast. Michelle was clearly not convinced. "Mom. I'm fine. Just... Mom can you go see if they've moved Casey yet? I should visit her whilst I'm here,"

"Casey?" she asked sadly. "Yeah... yeah sure Blaine. I'll be right back then," she said, nodding to herself, kissing Blaine's forehead quickly before leaving the room. Blaine sighed as she left, feeling terrible and not from pain. He leant back into the pillows and stared at the ceiling.

"You okay there, honey? Need any more painkillers?" asked the nurse.

"No I... I just hate that I do this to my mom. Seems like she's always worried about me," he sighed, running his hands over his face and closing his eyes.

"She's a mom. That's what we do," laughed the nurse lightly.

"You have kids?" Blaine asked politely.

"Yeah. I always worry it's going to be him coming in with something injured after a match too. Although I'm a lot more used to it as he's a total klutz." She laughed affectionately.

"Finn's just like that too," Blaine laughed.

"That would be my son Finn," the nurse laughed.

"Oh what? No way? I know Finn said his mom was a nurse but I didn't realise that was you." Blaine laughed, a little shocked.

"Oh yeah. That's me. How was the game until you got injured?" she asked.

"Not too bad. We were a still a couple of points ahead when I got knocked down," Blaine said, now taking in the name on the badge she wore as Carole, just like Finn had said.

"Oh well, I hope they're still doing okay without you. It must suck to be knocked down like this in the first game of the season," she said as she worked on his cast.

"Yeah. I mean, it could be a lot worse. But I guess I'll just have to be more careful. First high school football game and I'm out," Blaine laughed bitterly to himself.

"First game ever?" Carole asked.

"Yeah. Never played for a team before. Never joined up before so when I moved to McKinley this year I thought why not? Get to know people that way too. Can't say I expected this though,"

"You never do. I remember Finn's first football injury; came home from practice with a huge black eye. Apparently he wasn't paying attention and looked up right as the ball hit him straight in the face. He went bright red when he explained it to me," Carole laughed.

"That sounds a lot like Finn," Blaine laughed.

"Well honey, you're all patched up. You've just gotta wait till the cast sets then you're good to go. Keep on the crutches till you come back in a week for a check up. We'll see where to go from there, yeah?" Carole said as Blaine sat up to inspect his new McKinley Titans red cast that covered from his toes up to halfway up his shin.

"Well at least I can get people to sign it," Blaine sighed, adding _this time round_ mentally.


	9. Bold Revelations

**A/N: Thanks for the review .Riso! there's a little more Reed in here towards the end and of course, he's adorable the fluffy and cute! Small flash into Blaine's past in this chapter as we find out a tiny bit about Casey. This chapter's sorta split in two because it was too long to be just the one I think. I hope you like this though! xx Please review and stuffs xxx**

**Chapter 9**

"She's up here right?" Blaine asked quietly as he hobbled down the silent corridor on his crutches alongside Michelle.

"Yeah, she was just about to go to sleep when I came up a moment ago though," Michelle sighed.

"It's okay. I just feel like I should see her. I'll leave her a message to read when she wakes up," Blaine sighed. Michelle pointed to the right room and Blaine poked his head inside. Sure enough, Casey was fast asleep on the bed, looking the same as she ever did whilst she was here, and was accompanied by her mother Natasha who was sitting in the corner of the room, one hand holding Casey's whilst she slept.

"Hey," Blaine whispered quietly. Natasha looked up and gave him a weak smile before noticing his foot.

"What've you done now Blaine?" she whispered back, sounding somewhere between teasing and concerned.

"Football game earlier," Blaine waved away. Natasha looked to Michelle quickly and after a nod of confirmation she relaxed visibly. "How're you doing? Mom says I just missed Case,"

"Oh I'm okay honey. Same as ever. And yes, she was awake until about ten minutes ago."

"Damn. I've gotta time my football injuries better next time," Blaine teased, sinking into a chair beside her. "How's she doing?"

"Oh not so bad. She's getting better at putting names to faces. I showed her a photo of all you lot I had in my purse yesterday and she remembered over half of your names. You remember how she could hardly recognise herself the first time I showed her a couple months back... She's... She's getting there, she's really getting better," Natasha smiled.

"She's a fighter our Casey," Blaine sighed, smiling gently at the girl on the bed.

"So're you," Natasha smiled, nudging Blaine's shoulder. "You've never told me you were on the football team before,"

"Well, old memories and stuff," Blaine sighed sadly. "But yeah, I joined at the beginning of this year. At McKinley they're practically top of the social ladder so I thought I'd hide there. It's working though. Only had one slushie and that's cause I joined the Showchoir which isn't cool in the slightest."

"Showchoir eh? You guys getting ready to compete again?" Natasha smiled.

"Yeah. Sectionals aren't far off. Two weeks, barely. It's fun though. I've got friends again,"

"Good. You deserve them," Natasha smiled.

"Sometimes it doesn't feel like it," Blaine sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"Oh Blaine. Don't do that to yourself again. It's not good for you," Natasha soothed, resting her hand on his back.

"_I'm_ not good for other people Nat," he sighed.

"Blaine..."

"You got a pen and paper on you? I wanna write a note to Casey for when she wakes up," Blaine said, changing subject swiftly.

"I... yeah, hold on a sec then," Natasha sighed, rummaging quietly through her bag.

(Blaine's note)

'_Hey Casey! - It's Blainers.  
Remember me? I'm the one with the crazy black hair. I hope you're doing okay still. I came to the hospital today because I fell over at my football game and fractured my foot but I wanted to see you. But when I came upstairs you were asleep! Lazy :P I'm just kidding, you sleep all you like (lucky - I still have to get up at 7 EVERYday :( stupid school ) and I'll come back sometime when you're awake. I have to come back in a week for them to look at my foot again so if I can't see you before then I'll definitely see you in a week._

_Please be awake when I come to see you :P your mom's nice and all but I'd rather talk to YOU :P_

_Blaine :D'_

"Blaine!"

"Here come the troops," Blaine laughed to Michelle as she opened the front door and Reed came barrelling towards him. He ran as fast as his little legs would take him until he reached his older brother and was scooped up into a hug.

"You're okay Bee? You said you'd be okay" he said, hiding his face in Blaine's shirt.

"Of course I'm okay Reed. I'm always okay." Blaine soothed, running his fingers through Reed's short curly hair as he shuffled awkwardly on his good foot inside to be greeted by more people than he expected.

"Sorry for intruding in your house Mrs Anderson. We just wanted to stay with Reed and he wanted to stay home instead of next door at Sugar's" Quinn explained as Sugar, Santana, Brittany and herself stood awkwardly in the living room doorway.

"It's fine girls. Actually I'm glad you kept Reed company. He would've been bored out of his mind there and probably worried sick too." Michelle sighed exhausted. "And please girls, call me Michelle."

"Is Reed going to be the only one giving me hugs or what?" Blaine asked, trying not to laugh as a grin spread over his face. Santana laughed along with Quinn and all four of the girls moved forward to pull Blaine into a group hug, Reed still in his arms.

"Blaine stop monopolizing the girls," Michelle rolled her eyes at him as she headed for the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

"What like Reed wasn't monopolizing the girls?" Blaine laughed

"What's mono... whatever you said mean? Is it like that board game we have?" Reed asked, puzzled from somewhere in the centre of the pile.

"No Reed, it means I'm stealing all the attention by getting all the hugs," Blaine explained, ruffling Reed's hair.

"What was the verdict on your foot in the end Blaine?" asked Santana after the girls had all pulled back.

"It's a hairline fracture," Blaine sighed. "I can't play for ages. And I have to leave at least two weeks after they say it's fully healed before playing so that I don't injure it again. What a start to the season,"

"That sucks," Quinn sighed sympathetically. Blaine shrugged a little but sighed again.

"How'd the game go? Who won?" he asked.

"Blaine!" called Michelle from the kitchen. "Don't just stand inside the door forever. Go sit in the den or something." She poked her head out into the hallway where they all still stood and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Okay, fine." He gave in theatrically. "Reed I'm gonna have to put you down because I can't walk and carry you now."

"Aw... okay," Reed sighed.

"You can jump on my back again if you want Reed," Britt offered happily. Reed instantly perked up again and climbed happily onto her back, clinging onto her like a monkey.

"C'mon girls." Blaine laughed, directing them down the corridor. He pushed open the door midway down the hall and started descending the stairs slower than usual, his crutches slowing him to a crawl as he slid down one step at a time.

"Blaine you sure you're okay to go down stairs like this?" Quinn asked.

"I'm fine Q," Blaine laughed as he reached the bottom and found her a step behind him, arms ready to catch him should he loose his balance. "I may not be a Cheerio but I've still got enough balance to go down the stairs," She rolled her eyes at him and followed him into the basement room, moving out of the way of the bottom of the stairs to allow the other girls into the room.

"Grab a bean bag if you want guys," Blaine said as he flicked on the light switch and moved forwards.

The room was large and full of all sorts of things. A bed was pushed to one corner, a dresser and lamp next to it. A TV sat in the middle of the room against the wall, a sofa before it and several bean bags on the floor surrounding it along with several games controllers all wired to the TV. There was a stack of DVD's and games next to the TV, a couple of film posters on the walls, a punchbag in one corner that seemed to have had better days and a thick rug on the floor.

"Nice room," Santana smiled, admiring the amount of beanbags and relaxation space. Britt moved past her then, directed by Reed on her back until she stood with her back to the sofa. Reed them promptly let go and fell into the cushions with a giggle, causing Blaine to roll his eyes.

"You'll hurt yourself doing that one day Reed. Then you'll end up like me," he laughed, waggling his casted leg at his brother as he flopped onto the sofa next to him.

"No I won't. I'll do something heroic like you if I break something," Reed giggled.

"Oh yeah?" Blaine asked as he picked Reed up by his feet and dangled him so the sofa was just out of arms reach below him.

"Stop stop! _Blaine_!" he giggled and squirmed, earning laughs off the girls as they took seats in the various beanbags and on cushions on the floor and sofa.

"Aw, you're no fun," Blaine pouted, setting his strawberry blonde brother back on the sofa in Britt's lap where she'd sat close by.

"Hi Britt," he smiled up at her from where he lay awkwardly sprawled in her lap.

"Hi Reed," she laughed back, holding out a hand so he could pull himself upright.

"So come on girls, tell me we won the game?" Blaine pleaded playfully.

"Oh we won the game alright." Santana smiled.

"We still had our lead and scored once more after you'd gone. We were mainly just on the defence after you got injured, trying to keep our lead. It worked though," Quinn elaborated.

"Well that's good. Even if I'm not on the team anymore at least we got through," Blaine relaxed a little, sinking further into his seat

"Not on the team any more?" Quinn asked puzzled. Blaine lifted his heavy casted foot at her.

"I'm not exactly fighting fit anymore," he laughed.

"Yeah but they won't kick you off the team." Santana said.

"True, but I won't exactly be much use to them. There's no point in me going to practice with them as I'll just have to sit around and watch. And it's going to be ages yet till I'm allowed to play," Blaine explained.

"Doesn't mean you're off the team. You're just out with injury, you'll be back on the pitch soon." Quinn comforted.

"I guess. I suppose I'll just have to keep myself entertained with gossip," Blaine teased. "And speaking of which, I was told by a reliable source that Glee club always has some sort of drama going on. But since I've joined I haven't seen anything; no bitch fights, diva offs, death glares, boyfriend issues,"

"Oh Quinn has 'boyfriend issues'," laughed Santana.

"I don't have 'boyfriend issues' San," Quinn said, sending a glare at her friend. "Just because it's guy related doesn't make it boyfriend issues."

"Oh come on, you've gotta let me in on the secret now," Blaine teased warmly, sending Quinn a pleading look. She sighed and rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine!" she gave in. "I... I have a thing for Sam okay? But I doubt he even likes me,"

"Sam?" Blaine asked,

"Yeah... I know he's not like... the usual type and stuff but... I mean come on, look at him. He's gorgeous. And his abs, _ungh_," Quinn said, curling in on herself on her bean bag, pulling her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. "And I don't care that he's got a kinda wide mouth, I think it looks kinda cute on him."

"God, someone fetch me a bucket I'm about to vomit," Santana rolled her eyes.

"Santana," Blaine sighed. "And Quinn, you know I could ask Sam if he likes you that way if you wanted me to."

"Really?" Quinn asked, perking up a little. "D'you think he even likes me though?"

"Of course I can. And actually, I have a feeling he likes you too. I've been in my fair share of schools but guys are almost always the same. They rarely talk about their feelings between themselves but you can always notice the little things. I do think he likes you, Quinn."

"You're such a douchebag Blaine," Santana laughed.

"Hey, I'm trying to help here, San. Don't be so negative," Blaine laughed.

"Blaine!" came Michelle's muffled voice from upstairs.

"Yeah?" he called back.

"Mrs Fabray's here for Quinn and Britt,"

"Oh shoot. That's mom." Quinn sighed, trying to stand from the beanbag and falling so just deciding to fall out of it sideways. "Britt, Time to go,"

"Aw," Brittany sighed as she looked up from her quiet conversation with Reed who was now starting to fall asleep.

"Thanks for letting us stick around Blaine," Quinn said as she moved forwards to hug Blaine, avoiding his injured foot.

"It was nice to have you girls here," Blaine smiled, sitting up straight to hug her back. "And thank you so much for looking after Reed. Again,"

"It was nothing Blaine. We love your brother," Quinn laughed.

"See you soon Reed," Britt smiled as she hugged the tiny boy, his arms wrapping tightly around her neck to hug her back.

"It was fun to see you again Brit'ney!" he beamed at her.

"Blaine? Is Reed down there with you?" Michelle's voice sounded from upstairs.

"Yeah I am Momma!" Reed called happily.

"Well come upstairs, Reed. It's nearly your bedtime," Michelle said, now poking her head around the doorframe so she didn't have to shout.

"Awww, _Mom_." Reed whined as he trudged slowly up the stairs.

"Night Reed!" Blaine called to his disappearing brother.

"Night Blaine! Night girls!" Reed called back, pausing halfway up the stairs.

"Night Reed," smiled Sugar as she stood too. "I'd better head home too Blaine. I'll see you on Monday,"

"Okay, see you Sugar," Blaine said, giving her a quick hug too before she slipped upstairs after the others...

* * *

"Wow," Santana mumbled to herself as she slipped further down her seat on the sofa, the other's voices fading as they heard the front door shut.

"'Wow' what?" Blaine asked.

"I can't believe how cool your mom is about you having four girls in your basement bedroom. Yeah your brother was down here but he didn't have to be and she still let you," Santana explained.

"Well she knows I wouldn't do anything stupid," Blaine shrugged, sinking lower in his seat until his head sunk to the top of the sofa back.

"In a _basement bedroom_ with _four girls_? Blaine is she just pretending to be naïve or hoping you are?" Santana laughed.

"She knows I'd never," Blaine shrugged.

"Even if I did this?" Santana asked, suddenly moving to straddle Blaine's lap. Blaine shrunk back in surprised before laughing.

"Even if you do that," he smirked.

"Damn boy. What's up with you? Any other guy would have me pinned against the couch by now," Santana asked, sliding slowly off of Blaine's lap and back onto the cushions.

"There's nothing _up_ with me Santana. I just don't want to pin you against the couch." Blaine said quietly, gazing at his lap.

"Blaine? Okay I'm sorry, that was a stupid move but... Blaine, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm always fine," Blaine waved away.

"Blaine?" Santana said gently. "Nobody's _always fine_. Please tell me what's up? I swear on my life I won't tell anyone, and I mean that because man, I really wanna stay alive," Blaine chuckled weakly at her lame joke but sighed, closing his eyes and sinking into the cushions and wishing they would envelop him.

"Santana if I tell you, you can't tell another soul, okay?" he almost breathed.

"Oh god it's something major serious isn't it? Oh god Blaine, are you okay?" Santana asked, panicking.

"Yeah I... _I'm _fine just... not everyone approves..."

Santana gave him a confused look but rested a hand gently on his knee to show him she was there, still there and still listening. Blaine took a deep breath, steeling himself.

"Santana, I'm gay." He blurted out, keeping his eyes shut tight.

"_Damn_... why're the good looking ones always gay?" she teased lightly, squeezing his knee. Blaine opened his eyes slowly to find Santana smiling gently at him and he managed to just about return it.

"You don't... you don't hate me right?" he asked.

"Blaine? Really? You think I'm gonna hate you for being gay? Look at Hummel. We don't treat him worse because he is, do we? Look, it's okay you know. And... we sorta play for the same team..."

"Really?" Blaine asked gently.

"Sorta. I don't really know... I... I think I'm falling in love with Britt and I don't know how to... how to _deal_ with feeling like this." Santana admitted slowly, curling up on her side on the couch.

"Hey, it's okay to feel like that." Blaine comforted, slipping an arm around her shoulders. "It's okay to be confused. I know I was at first,"

"When was 'at first' for you?" she inquired quietly, leaning into his side.

"'Bout two years ago," Blaine admitted.

"Shit, am I the first person you've told? Apart from your mom - who I'm guessing was okay with having all of us girls down here with you because she knows"

"No, you're not the first to know. My old friends knew. Most of the Warblers knew, probably all of them. A couple of them even tried setting me up on dates but they never worked out." Blaine admitted a little sadly. "I just didn't tell anyone here because I don't... not everyone's always as accepting as my friends were and it... it was too much,"

"Oh Blaine," Santana said sadly, pulling him into a sideways hug.

"Hey, I'm fine. I'm always fine, remember?" Blaine laughed weakly.

"I'm sorry Blaine. God what you must've _been through_..." Santana said into his ear as she hugged him tight.

"Hey, I'm still here. I think that says enough," Blaine said as she pulled back.

"You sure you're okay Blaine?"

"_Yes._" Blaine said. "Just... I don't want people at McKinley to know. I mean, it's way better than some schools I've been to but I still don't want to ruin everything by people finding out."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. God the idea of what people would say about me if they found out I'm not straight. I don't even know what I classify as yet but... ugh, it would be horrible..." Santana said.

"You don't need a label, San" Blaine comforted. "Although, it's a weird U-turn you've done. Just a couple of months ago you were trying to jump into my pants,"

"Oh god!" Santana laughed, hiding her face in her hands. "Wow... that seems so long ago! And for the record, you are attractive and I was totally justified in trying. Any guy who gets you if going to be lucky, you may seem like a douche but you're actually pretty sweet,"

"Thanks San," Blaine smiled, giving her a one-armed hug. "You're actually not as bitchy as I originally thought. You're actually really nice once you get behind the badass mask,"

"Hey, the badass isn't a mask. I'm a badass through and through,"

"You know what I mean," Blaine laughed.

"Yeah I do, and thanks." She smiled.

"Can I ask you the most embarrassing question I've ever wanted to ask?" Blaine said after a moment of content and easy silence.

"Embarrassing for me or for you?" Santana inquired.

"Me," Blaine said, a blush already creeping onto his cheeks.

"Oh sure then. Go for it," she laughed.

"What... oh god this is embarrassing. But, uh... what's it like to kiss someone?" Blaine stuttered out, turning scarlet as Santana burst into a fit of giggles.

"Oh my god that is embarrassing," she laughed.

"Thanks," Blaine said sarcastically, as Santana rolled around on the cushions in her laughter.

"Don't you know? Haven't you ever kissed anyone? Not even a girl before you realised you were gay?"

"Nope." Blaine sighed.

"Ouch," Santana said, her laughter now silenced as she slid back into her position leaning against Blaine. "That sucks. Kissing is awesome... you know, I could always offer you my lips up as a tester? You know, don't want you missin' out on the fun,"

"You'd do that?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah, why not? I mean, you're hot and even though I'm not your type you could always imagine I'm some guy right?" Santana guessed, shrugging like it was fairly obvious.

"Wow... you're amazing Santana," Blaine laughed nervously.

"Is that a 'yes you wanna make out' then?" Santana asked, perfectly pencilled eyebrow raised.

"I... yeah..." Blaine blushed. Santana laughed but moved forwards, pressing her lips softly the Blaine's. Blaine was a little shocked at first but soon melted into it, letting the feeling of her lips on his take him over. She pulled back after a moment, not trying to be too pushy or forceful.

"How was that Blanderson?" she smirked.

"That... wow... that was amazing Santana," Blaine laughed breathlessly.

"You're actually not that bad a kisser yourself, especially for a first time," she complimented.

"I think if I ever find a guy though he's going to have trouble matching that though," Blaine laughed, high on the feelings raging through his body.

"Oh come on, that was nothing. And it's better with feelings, honestly. When you're in love with someone it's like 20 times better," she laughed.

"Wow... I look forward to that then," Blaine laughed.


	10. Malcolm

**Chapter 10**

Monday felt just like every other day at McKinley high, and yet so very different. Sure, the most obvious difference was Blaine was hobbling into the choir room on his crutches as agilely as is possible, but Blaine felt different inside too. He'd had his first kiss, he'd stopped hiding who he was from Santana and she from him and that, more than anything felt like progress. Towards what he wasn't sure, but it felt good either way.

"How's the foot Blaine?" asked Mr. Shue as he slipped into the classroom.

"Not too bad," Blaine smiled, still slightly sleepy from trying not to zone out in his first period History class that was too dull to be called anything but torture in Blaine's mind. He shuffled into a seat and smiled at Santana as she slid into the one next to him, leaning into his shoulder and closing her eyes, trying to fall asleep herself.

"San, you do have to be awake for class you know?" he teased quietly, slipping an arm behind her waist to give her a gently sideways hug. With a mumbled reply that she didn't care Blaine laughed quietly and waited for Mr. Shuester to start the class. It didn't take long, Mr. Shue was always far too chirpy.

"Right class! This week, I want to mix things up a little. Now, I know if I suggested that we were going to be doing duets this week that you'd all jump to pick your favourite partners, the person you always duet with. But, I want to change it up, I want you guys to experiment and mess around with the styles of music you sing, which is why this week's duet assignment's pairings will be pulled from a hat,"

"Mr. Shue, I appreciate your attempts to liven us up this early on a Monday morning but-"

"Rachel. If you don't mind, I'd like to continue teaching the class," Mr. Shue said, interrupting Rachel and giving her a stern look as she practically gawped at him. "Right. What I'm trying to achieve, or get you to achieve this week, is to put yourself slightly out of your usual comfort zone to broaden your skills. You all have your favourite little niche of songs you enjoy performing, but I think you guys get so comfortable there that you don't think about pushing yourself to trying something new. So, without further ado, let's pick out the pairings,"

"Oh! Can I pick out the names Mr. Shue?" asked Britt, throwing her hand up in the air in excitement as Mr. Shuester brought out a hat full of folded names.

"Of course Brittany. Step right up," he smiled as she bounced out of her seat, also too chirpy for most students, and down to the front of the class.

Quinn and Rachel...

Santana and Puck...

Tina and Artie...

Blaine hardly paid attention but then his own name was called, followed by...

"Kurt!" Britt smiled as she read the name aloud. Blaine felt his blood run colder as he forced himself to smile and nod and join in the quiet clapping that had been running along after every pair was called. He stayed quiet during the rest of the class, not really listening to Mr. Shuester's rambling about how important it is to broaden your talents.

"We could probably swap you know?" Santana offered quietly into Blaine's ear. "Or let Porcelain go with Puck and we could team up?"

"Mr. Shue probably wouldn't let us." Blaine sighed quietly into her ear. "Although Puck and Hummel together would be hilarious."

"You'd seriously let those two duet together? I was kidding about that," she laughed quietly. "Some friend you are to him, Hummel'd rip his head off or something. You do make a better boyfriend at least, even if you're a fake one."

_(Flashback)_

"_Santana have you ever heard the term 'beard's?" Blaine had asked nervously._

"_No, not really. But I'm guessing you don't mean face fungus," Santana laughed._

"_No it's not face fungus," Blaine smirked in return. "It's a term for... for a guy and girl who get together to hide their sexuality. Like, so that people think they're straight when they're not ready to tell people otherwise..."_

"_Yes." Santana blurted._

"_What?"_

"_Yes. I know what you mean and yes. I'm no way ready to come out as not being straight. I don't even know what I qualify as yet so... yeah. Let's hide together," she said, a smile forming on her face._

_(End flashback)_

"But are you _sure_ you'll be okay with Hummel?" Santana whispered.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Why not ey?" Blaine smiled though it was a little forced. Santana seemed to see this but nodded and smiled back reassuringly.

"I wonder what he'll try and get me to sing," he laughed quietly.

"Oh god, when he starts suggesting show tunes... you'll be in for it then boy," Santana giggled Blaine sighed and rolled his eyes at her before she gave him a 'you know you love it' sort of face and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

* * *

"So," Kurt sidled up to Blaine at his locker before lunch.

"So?" Blaine countered, an amused smile on his face.

"Do you have any suggestions already for our duet?" Kurt asked as Blaine deposited one last book before shutting his locker.

"Nope. I've hardly thought about it. I guessed you'd already have ideas," Blaine shrugged as the two began to walk towards lunch - Kurt walked, Blaine on his crutches beside him.

"Well I do, but I have no idea if you'll run with them. I was thinking we have a brainstorm session after school today maybe? That way we can get a plan formed early to give us more time to rehearse it and perfect it," Kurt suggested.

"Sorry Kurt, I can't do this afternoon." Blaine sighed. "I'm meeting up with a friend,"

"Oh, okay..." Kurt said, unsure which friend Blaine meant. It sounded to Kurt that apart from maybe the Warblers and his friends from his year at McKinley, Blaine didn't actually have many friends. He never spoke of them apart from mentioning a girl named Jessica once at his locker and form all the bullying history Kurt was sure he had it sounded like he didn't have many friends at all. "How about tomorrow instead then?"

"Uh, I guess so. I would have football but I guess not anymore," Blaine said, the slight pressure of his cast seeming more prominent at the reminder it was weighing down his leg. It was however, covered in signatures and messages from the Glee club and a couple of the other guys from the team, with even a small drawing from Reed at the side.

"Great," Kurt smiled. "I guess I'll find you tomorrow after school then,"

"Yeah, I guess so. Wait, where are we going to have this brainstorm session again?" Blaine asked.

"Oh, I didn't think of that." Kurt said, mentally hitting himself over the head for not thinking of it sooner. "Well, I'd suggest my place but there's a fair few stairs there and I wouldn't want to make you climb them all with your foot,"

"Kurt," Blaine laughed. "Stairs don't actually bother me. But whatever, we can brainstorm around mine if that's easier."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Okay. So tomorrow at yours it is," Kurt said decisively, nodding along as he spoke.

"Tomorrow it is," Blaine confirmed.

* * *

"Hey baby," Santana smiled as Blaine made his way towards his locker through the emptying corridor soon after the final bell of the day had rung out.

"Hey," Blaine smiled in return, glad that their pretend relationship wasn't that hard to fake as they'd grown close very quickly since Friday night's game. Santana had had many a boyfriend in the past so knew exactly how she normally acted around boyfriends. Blaine just had to play along, glad to have someone like Santana who understood him at least a little pretending to be his girlfriend.

"How's the foot doing?" she asked happily, as she twiddled the combination on his locker and opened it, getting out Blaine's books he'd need and storing the ones he passed her from his bag inside. Blaine wasn't even surprised that she'd hacked his locker; instead he fought back a laugh at it.

"Fine really. Just a pain to have to be on crutches again," he said nonchalantly as he packed his bag.

"You nervous?" she asked quietly.

"A little..." Blaine admitted, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "I'm... _fuck_ I'm scared about it. It's been months since I saw him last and..."

"Oh Blaine," Santana sighed as she pulled him into a hug in the now empty corridor and Blaine buried his face in her shoulder. "You know he's okay right? You're going to see him in half an hour. He's fine, he's up and able to see you and everything."

"I know but... god I just feel so guilty over the whole damn thing," Blaine said as he pulled back, blinking back tears and drawing a deep breath.

"It's not your fault you know. It isn't." Santana said, her hands on his shoulders as she looked him in the eyes, dead serious and slightly pitiful.

"You know, you're an amazing girlfriend Santana." Blaine smiled thankfully at her.

"Thanks," she smiled shyly - a look Blaine never thought he'd see on the feisty girl. "Now come one, let me give your sorry ass a lift to the Lima Bean."

* * *

"You gonna need a lift back later?" Santana asked as she pulled up in a parking space outside the coffee house, pulling on the handbrake and looking over at Blaine.

"No, I don't think so. I'll probably get a lift back with him," Blaine said. "And, even though we're fake dating, doesn't mean you have to look out for me like I'm a little kid. I _am_ sixteen you know," Blaine teased, causing her to roll her eyes.

"You're an ass sometimes you know?" she smirked, a playful gleam in her eyes.

"And that is why you fake love me," Blaine smirked, leaning in and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before opening his door and slipping out as gracefully as is possible to jump out of a truck with one foot in a cast.

"Go on then Blanders, go have fun with your old friend," Santana laughed.

"See you tomorrow," he waved as he shut the door and hobbled over to the Lima Bean entrance, pushing open the doors. Inside whilst he waited in line to order he looked around and quickly spotted his old friend towards one side, sat happily at a table and waving at him. He smiled and waved back before moving forwards to the counter, quickly ordering his coffee before managing to use just one of his set of crutches to move towards the table, coffee in his other hand. It wasn't too difficult as he could put some pressure on the heel of his casted foot as he walked but his awkward and unbalanced walk sent the boy at the table into fits of laughter.

"Shut up," Blaine whined as he sat down, face turning a faint pink in embarrassment as he leant his crutches against the wall.

"Aw come on Bee, you looked like Bambi up there," laughed Malcolm from opposite him.

"Well, I kinda forgot about how I was going to carry this over okay?" Blaine laughed at himself, shaking his head at the disbelief he'd just looked like an idiot in public.

"You sure haven't changed much," Malcolm smiled, leaning back in his chair.

"You have. Look at you, new hair, new clothes, new you practically," Blaine said, gesturing to his friend. Malcolm looked almost nothing like his old self. His old tawny brown hair was long gone, replaced by a much lighter brown that was almost blonde in places. He'd ditched his thick-rimmed glasses for contact lenses and his old slightly odd fashion sense was replaced by a much better looking set of dark-wash jeans, a well cut polo shirt and a thin zipped sweater. He was almost an entirely new person.

"Uh, I could say the same Blainers," Malcolm laughed. "Look at _you_. Shorter hair-"

"-It's called a hair cut Mal-" Blaine teased.

"-Actual style for once, football jacket. _Girlfriend_ even? The only thing that hasn't changed is the fact you're _still_ in casts. What the hell did you do now Blaine?" Mal continued as if Blaine hadn't interrupted.

"That," Blaine said, indicating his foot. "Is from playing for my new school's football team on Friday night and getting a fracture after being slammed to the floor. I'm gonna end up being out practically all season," Blaine explained, trying not to groan at the last part. "Entirely not my fault and the guy got sent off the pitch for it. We still won the game though,"

"And the girlfriend?" Mal asked, eyebrow rising questioningly.

"She knows, Mal. Beards," was all Blaine said and Malcolm nodded understandingly.

"Is she...?" he asked.

"She thinks she might," Blaine shrugged, sipping at his coffee.

"Well, I'm glad you guys have each other then. You do make quiet a couple, even from just my glimpse of you through the window," Mal commented, sipping his own coffee.

"Thanks. That's the plan I guess." Blaine said. "Wait, scrap that, I don't even have a plan anymore," he changed his mind, laughing.

"You always were a little hopeless in the head Bee," Mal laughed in return. "Although, for a girl, you got yourself a scorcher. Seriously, a cheerleader? _Damn_ boy,"

"Well I am a football team stud now," Blaine countered playfully, barely containing his laughter. "That makes me like, top of the food chain in McKinley. Although, Glee club does knock me down one or two pegs I guess,"

"Glee club?"

"Show choir,"

"Oh you're still at the Showchoir? Awesome man."

"Well, this is like week three for me," Blaine laughed. "I got forced into it by some of the cheerleader members who found out when Reed blabbed to them that I sing for him when they babysat him,"

"Blaine you're such a bad liar when I'm around. You weren't forced at all," Mal laughed.

"Well I was a little. I was resisting more like. I didn't want to give anyone reason to hate me and I'd seen the way some of the people in glee got treated. Yeah half of them are cheerleaders or football players, but the other guys are like outcasts to the rest of the school," Blaine explained.

"You'd know all about that then, wouldn't you?" Mal said before realising what he'd said and immediately backtracking. "Sorry! I didn't mean it like that. You know what I mean right?"

"It's fine Mal." Blaine waved away. After all this time, Blaine was glad to see the same old Malcolm in there, even after the new look, after the time apart, after Dalton and Haverbrooke, even after Prom... they were still the best friends it seemed they'd always been, regardless that they'd only met three years ago now.

"I can't believe you're leaving soon though," Blaine sighed.

"I know," Mal sighed, resting his elbows on the table and propping his head on his hands. "It's going to be so... weird... there's going to be nobody there,"

"I know... have you heard anything from anyone recently?" Blaine asked tentatively.

"A little. Andy's in England now. Got himself a great group of friends and a leading role in their school production. Musical, of course. That's Andy." Mal sighed sadly, and noting Blaine's guilty yet sad look he added "Got a boyfriend now too,"

"Really?" Blaine asked, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"Yeah. He sent me a picture, lemme find it," he said. Mal dived into the backpack handing on the back of his chair and pulled out his cell phone. He flicked through it for a moment before pulling out a photo and handing the phone to Blaine. Blaine sighed happily at the sight, his old friend sat right in the centre of a group of teens, grinning from ear to ear, arm slung carelessly around the waist of a tall blonde boy who was planting a kiss on his cheek. Andy looked more than happy. In the terrible quality of the photo his scars were almost invisible, not picked up by the camera lens that was probably from someone's phone. He looked just like a normal teen.

"I know that look," Mal sighed.

"I know," Blaine sighed quietly, handing back the phone as his guilt slowly crept back into his system.

"Hey, I got an email from Joanna too," Mal said, changing the subject quickly.

"Really? How is she?" Blaine asked, thankful for the distraction.

"She's doing great too. Says she's joining every extracurricular she can. Fencing, Drama club, Brainiacs. Not a club she isn't joining it seems. Going on a hiking trip with a couple of friends over spring break too. She's got her stride back," Mal explained happily, searching for a photo of Joanna on his phone and quickly passing it back for Blaine to see. Blaine laughed at the photo, Joanna pulling the daftest face she could at the camera along with the girl beside her. They were cos-playing too, Joanna as Amy Pond with her long naturally-red hair whilst her friend beside her was dressed in a tweed jacket and a bow tie. They looked pretty good, it was obvious who they were dressed as and Joanna's friend looked a lot like Matt Smith with her short brown hair and firm jaw line. They were a good match.

"She really looks like Amy here," Blaine laughed as he handed the phone back.

"Have you heard from anyone recently?" Mal asked, slipping his cell into his pocket.

"I got a letter from Peter not too long ago. He says he's in Italy now. Clearly putting his Italian to good use. He said he's tutoring some of his friends there in English and they're teaching him some more Italian. They're good friends of his," Blaine explained. "I've not heard anything from Peter, Robbie or Annie though." He then sighed. "Not since Annie moved to New York and the guys moved to California."

"I might see the boys soon though," Mal said, a half-hearted smile on his face.

"Tell them I say hi then I guess," Blaine sighed, hand rubbing over his forehead and through his hair.

"Blaine... I'm gonna miss you," Mal admitted.

"Me too," Blaine admitted.

"You'll still have Casey though. She's still here," Mal comforted.

"I know I just... I wish she was _here_ more, you know?" Blaine sighed.

"Will she be awake?" Mal asked.

"Probably," Blaine said, checking his watch. "You wanna go see her?"

"Yeah. I haven't been in too long. I've not been to over here in so long either." Mal admitted.

"Let's go then. I promised her I'd visit her this week anyway. I'll have to go in on Saturday to let them look at my fracture so I'll see her then but we haven't been there together in... God how long has it been?"

"I think the fact neither of us can remember means it's been too long," Mal laughed weakly.

"Yeah, lets. You okay with your chair?" Blaine asked as he swung his legs around and out of his chair, grabbing his crutches and hoisting himself onto his feet.

"Yeah it's cool." Malcolm waved away, gently pushing back from the table before turning his wheelchair to face the gap between the tables.

"I'd push you but," Blaine said, laughing as he tried to pick up his coffee from the table, still unfinished.

"You'd fall over anyway," Mal laughed, grabbing both their coffees and slipping them into cup holders on the side of his chair.

"You really kitted out your chair didn't you?" Blaine asked as he followed behind his friend towards the parking lot.

"Well why ever not?" Mal said.

"You should see Artie's chair. He's got light up wheels at the front," Blaine laughed as they slipped through the doors and towards where Malcolm's mom was sat in the car, talking on her cell from the driver's seat. She spotted them exit the building and waved a hello at them, beckoning them over.

* * *

"Just up here," Blaine said as they rounded the corner in the hospital corridor. The two were silent as they reached the door and Blaine poked his head inside the room.

"Hellooo?" Blaine called out.

"Hi!" beamed the girl on the hospital bed, pressing a button on the side of her bed to manoeuvre herself upright. "It's you!"

"It is," Blaine smiled, as he shuffled into the room. "It's Blaine,"

"I know it's Blaine," Casey smiled.

"And me," Malcolm added as he wheeled through the door.

"Of course! It's both of you," Casey beamed, her smiled somehow growing wider as she spotted Malcolm. There was something in her eyes that said she recognised him but couldn't think of his name so Blaine supplied it for her as he took a seat beside her bed.

"I was just chatting to Malcolm here and we decided to come and see you. Did you get my note I left for you?" Blaine said, noticing his note was sat just beside her bed.

"Yes! It's this one right?" Casey smiled reaching out slowly to the side of the bed and pulling it towards her. He rested it in her lap happily, rereading it to remind herself of what it said.  
"How is your foot doing?" she asked.

"It's totally fine. Everyone's been asking me that today and it's really fine. People are just a little concerned by these," Blaine said, indicating the crutches beside him.

"Well that's good then. And how are you?" she said turning to Malcolm. "I don't remember seeing you in a long time,"

"I've been at a school that's kinda far away from here." Mal sighed sadly. "It sucked because I didn't get to see you but now I've left the school. It's good because it means I can come and see you more often but only for a bit. I'm moving to California in three weeks and then I won't be able to see you much."

"But that sucks. I don't get many visitors," Casey pouted.

"I know," Mal pouted in return. "But I'm hoping they'll let you have internet connection in here soon so I can talk to you over the internet. That way I you can still see me, even after I move,"

"That would be fun! Momma could bring my iPad and we could talk that way! I have this iPad the doctors are using to help me write again!" Casey said proudly.

"Your momma told me you can already write your name," Blaine said.

"I can! I don't have a pen or my iPad but I can! I promise you I can. It's hard but it's getting easier to!" Casey smiled.

"It's okay Case, we believe you," Malcolm smiled.

* * *

The conversation continued as such for over an hour before Natasha turned up and greeted them all. Blaine and Mal stuck around for a short while before excusing themselves, letting Natasha be with her daughter. Out in the corridor Malcolm finally said what he'd been waiting an hour to say.

"I thought... last time I was here she was improving so much. But she's... she's still..." he stumbled out, shaking his head in confusion and shock. Blaine sank into a chair midway down the corridor and dropped his head into his hands.

"Blaine," Malcolm said in a warning tone.

"It's my fault." Blaine mumbled into his hands, tears feeling hot on his cheeks as they began to roll down them.

"It's _not_ Blaine." Malcolm said.

"It _is_. This is all my fault. All of it." Blaine cried quietly into his hands. "All of the rest have up and left because they can't bear to be near me and Casey doesn't even remember, and _Jessica_," Blaine said, his words stopping dead at the memory of her and his heart felt a pang of guilt again.

"_**NO**_. Blaine you can't keep doing this to yourself. This isn't fair to you," Malcolm tried, placing a hand on Blaine's shoulder.

"You can't tell me it isn't my fault when you're in that damn chair for trying to defend me Mal," Blaine said angrily through his tears. That brought Mal up short.

"Bee, I don't care about being in a chair. Hell I'd rather be stuck in the sort of chair Steven Hawking in is than let you kick yourself over this. You can't do this to yourself, Blaine. Think of Jessica,"

"I _am_. That's the problem Mal. She's gone and it's my fault." Blaine cried.

"Think of how she'd be kicking your ass for saying that. Blaine, you can't blame this on yourself. You can't blame yourself for being who you are just because other people didn't like it."

"It was me they hated most though. They hated me most because it was because of me that Andy came out too. They thought I was turning people gay with just my stupid presence in that damn school and they hated me for it. It was me they humiliated that night. Me they hated. And I brought all you guys into it. I dumped you all in this crap. If I hadn't-"

"_NO_. Do not even go there, Blaine. Just don't. Okay? You didn't ask for this to happen to you. You never wanted anything but acceptance. Just because they couldn't just get on with their own lives and leave you alone is their fault for being assholes. Don't you dare blame yourself for this." Mal protested.

"You guys were all I had and I couldn't stop them," Blaine said softly through his tears. "I was too weak. I should've-"

"No you shouldn't have. They are the ones that should have done anything. They were the ones who were homophobes. You realise most of them are _still_ in reform school for what they did."

"I..."

"Hey, it's okay Blaine. Everything's okay." Mal soothed, pulling Blaine's hands away from his face.

"Mal, can I ask you something?" Blaine asked, a thought occurring to him and he ran with it, glad for something else to think about than the damage he'd done.

"Shoot," Mal said, shrugging.

"Will you come see me at Sectionals? It's in two weeks so that still gives you a week before you leave for Stoneacre in California." Blaine asked timidly.

"Of course Blaine. Anything to get you on a stage again and smiling for god sake," Blaine let out a weak laugh but wiped his tears away.  
"C'mon Bee. That's enough tears for one day. Let's go home," Mal said. Blaine nodded and stood walking alongside Mal's wheelchair along the corridor towards the lift down to the lobby.  
"Hey, ask your friend in glee where he gets the light up wheels you mentioned will you?"

* * *

"_Blaine? How was it?" _Santana's voice asked after she picked up on the second ring.

"Terrible," Blaine admitted, sinking down the pillows on his bed and wanting to bury his head in them and forget he existed.

"_What movie are we gonna watch then?"_ she asked.

"What?" Blaine said, totally confused at her jump in conversation.

"_Blaine, when I said I'd be your girlfriend, I didn't actually mean _just_ for show. You _get_ me because you know what I'm going through, and I'll be damned if I don't try and help you in return as much as you're helping me. Now we're not like other couples but I still actually care about you Blaine. So if you feel like crap right now I'm coming over to cheer you up; movie, popcorn and all. Although I won't be able to have much of the popcorn because of Sue's Cheerio diet she makes us stick to, but apart from that." _Santana explained.

"You'd really do that?" Blaine asked, touched.

"_Yes, now pick a film asap, the corner shop near me shuts pretty soon so I'll need to leave in less than fifteen minutes if I want to get us popcorn before it shuts."_ Santana said.

"Thank you," Blaine said earnestly, a single tear running down his cheek. "And uh... can we watch something with craploads of explosions in? Something with almost no plot and no romance whatsoever," Blaine suggested.

"_I have just the film. I'll be round in twenty minutes tops."_ She said, a smile in her voice.

"Thank you Santana," Blaine repeated, genuinely glad that of all the sides to Santana that there were, that he got to see this one.


	11. Duets

**Chapter 11**

_"I can't believe you, you're actually making me sound like __**Berry**__," Santana whined dropping her head into her hands as Blaine laughed._

_"C'mon, that's so not true." Blaine said, nudging her shoulder playfully._

_"It so is. Because I'm actually tempted to remind you of Mr Shue's spiel like she would that if you need to, you can sing about your soppy feelings in Glee. Loads of people do it," Santana said into her hands._

_"Hey, that doesn't make you Rachel. Not in the slightest. And if you want to compare yourself to anyone in Glee you should pick Mercedes," Blaine comforted._

_"Well, okay maybe that's not so bad then," Santana gave in, grabbing a handful of popcorn and cramming it in her mouth._

_"It's not bad at all. You're just finally letting down some of the walls you've built."_

_"I guess so. But hey, stop making me break down more of them," she said playfully through her mouthful. "This is about you and you're gonna get your sorry ass up and perform something tomorrow. Sing about it, pick some song and do it. 'Kay?" she said. Blaine laughed a little but sighed, resigned that she wasn't going to let this go._

_"Okay, fine," he said, grabbing a handful of popcorn himself, a reluctant smile forming on his face..._

Blaine ran the previous evening's events over his head as he sank into his chair in Glee on Tuesday's lesson right before lunch. Santana sat beside him as was their unofficial usual now, with Artie on his other side and a couple of the other Cheerio girls behind him. Once Mr. Shuester had turned up and the bell rang out for the class to begin, Blaine raised his hand.

"Yes Blaine?" Mr. Shue asked. It was unusual for the group to do much during this lesson as it was too soon before lunch for Finn to concentrate, the Cheerio's had just had a practice lesson before and were shattered and usually people just talked a bit about their assignments and practiced a little, but never really got much work done.

"D'you mind if I sing something? You encourage us to sing about our feelings all the time so I kinda wanted to perform something today," he said.

"Why of course Blaine. Do take the floor," Mr. Shue smiled surprised as Blaine got up and slid into the chair at the piano. He faced the glee club who'd all looked up interested except for Santana who was smiling at him, giving him a nod that said he should talk.

"We've all got one person who's no longer in our lives; who left when we didn't get the chance to say goodbye or weren't ready to. Someone you wish was still here basically. This is a song for them, even if they're not here to hear it." Blaine said, smiling weakly before turning to the keys and playing the gently introduction to the song.

_"How can I just let you walk away? Just let you leave without a trace?  
When I stand here taking every breath, with you... mmnh.  
You're the only one, who really knew me at all..._

_How can you just walk away from me, when all I can do is watch you leave?  
'Cause we've shared the laughter and the pain. And even shared the tears...  
You're the only one, who really knew me at all..._

_So take a look at me now.  
Oh there's just an empty space.  
And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face.  
Ooh take a look at me now, well there's just an empty space...  
And you coming back to me is against all odds and that's what I've got to face..."_

Blaine was surprised when he heard Finn join in on the drums but glad as the song always sounded better with it.

_"I wish I could just make you turn around,  
Turn around and see me cry.  
There's so much I need to say to you... so many reasons why...  
You're the only one who really knew me at all..._

_So take a look at me now.  
Well there's just an empty space.  
And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face.  
Ooh take a look at me now, well there's just an empty space..._

_But to wait for you, is all I can do and that's what I've got to face.  
Take a good look at me now!  
I'll still be standing here...  
And you coming back to me is against all odds,  
It's the chance I've gotta take..._

_Take a look at me now..."_

Blaine's fingers slowly came to a stop on the piano and the room burst into applause. Blaine smiled and thanked Finn for joining in as he shuffled back to his seat, receiving a clap on the back from Artie as he took his seat. The chatter then started up again, Rachel's excited voice the easiest to distinguish above the talk and Blaine relaxed a little into his seat. The rest of the class passed pretty quickly and he chatted idly to Sam about his and Quinn's duet ideas until soon enough the bell rang and the class fled out towards the cafeteria.

"Blaine?" it was Mr. Shue's voice that called Blaine back.

"Yes sir?" Blaine asked, hanging back as the rest of the glee club disappeared.

"Are you okay?" he asked, taking Blaine by surprise a little

"Yeah, sure. Why?" Blaine replied with his standard answer to 'Are you okay?' style questions.

"I was just curious about what brought about your song today. You seemed really upset," he said cautiously not so clueless as he usually seemed.

"Yeah I guess, just... one of my old friends is in hospital sir," Blaine admitted sadly with a shrug.

"I'm sorry to hear that Blaine. Are they going to be okay?" Mr. Shue asked sadly, actually seeming to care.

"Nobody really knows. It's been over a year and a half now and she's... not made the progress the doctors were hoping for... she's improved a lot recently but... it's unclear if she'll ever be really herself again." Blaine sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"D'you mind if I ask why she's in hospital, Blaine?"

"Brain damage," Blaine sighed, grimacing slightly at the memory. "There was a fight and she tried to help out... to defend my friend but, she only ended up getting hurt herself. She had this massive head injury and it took her a month to learn to speak again, three before she could control her hands. She can move about now, though not well she's just... it hurts to see her so clueless sometimes. I had to remind her my name yesterday because I could see she couldn't remember it. She recognised my face, just couldn't put a finger on my name."

"What was the fight over, if you don't mind my asking?" Mr. Shue asked quietly.

"Some homophobic jocks tried to beat the crap out of my friend." Blaine said, deliberately not mentioning their primary target had been him. "I stood up too, my whole group of friends did but it didn't matter. We were outnumbered almost two to one. It was terrible..."

"It wasn't your fault Blaine. You did what you could to help. You did the right thing to stand up for your friend," Mr. Shue comforted, sending Blaine an encouraging smile.

"I still feel guilty though. I probably always will. Every time I see her I feel guilty because now I'm all she has left apart from her mom." Blaine admitted.

"Your other friends didn't ditch her because of her injuries did they?" Mr. Shue asked worriedly.

"What? Oh no, no not at all. They just... most of them moved to get away from the memories. One of my friends has come back from his boarding school a short way off so he's going to spend a load of time with her in hospital whilst he can. But he can't stay forever; he's moving to California in three weeks. He'll stay in touch, but it'll still be hard. Then I'll be all she's got left." Blaine sighed.

"Blaine, you don't have to take this burden all to yourself. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'll always be here to help. There's also Miss Pillsbury in the office who'll be able to give you counselling should you seek it,"

"Hm? Oh, no. I'm fine sir. Sometimes I just miss the way things used to be. I'm fine sir," Blaine said, waving off the offer.

"Okay then." Mr. Shue sighed, feeling a little annoyed at himself that Blaine was so determined to be strong for himself when he didn't have to be, and that he hadn't managed to convince Blaine very well that there'd always be someone to listen. "I'll see you on Thursday for our next class then Blaine."

"Yes, sir." Blaine nodded, slipping out of the classroom.

* * *

"Why does every song suggestion have to be a song from a musical?" Blaine asked, dropping his face into his hands. They'd been trying to pick a song for their duet for nearly an hour, sat in Blaine's basement bedroom, Blaine at a chair at his desk, Kurt on a beanbag chair beside him as they talked/argued over song after song. They were getting nowhere.

"Because musicals have all the best, most emotional and quality songs in them. That's why," Kurt said stubbornly.

"You only want us to do a musical song because that's all that your repertoire can handle." Blaine shot, sending him an annoyed look to accompany it.

"Excuse me! My repertoire is vast and **not** limited to musical songs thank you very much," Kurt said unhappily.

"Sorry, musicals and the list of songs you have to sing for your Cheerio's performances then because surely even Sue must think whatever your singing is adequate enough else she'd have kicked you out by now," Blaine gave in slightly, now just having fun winding Kurt up over this. Kurt's mouth dropped open in angry shock and was about to say something to retort back when Michelle called from upstairs.

"Blaine? I've got something for you," she called.

"Just coming," Blaine called back, climbing to his feet and sending a slightly smug look back at Kurt.  
"I guess whilst I'm gone you'll have the chance to think of a good comeback," he shot to Kurt before heading up the stairs, leaving the fuming boy behind. He walked through to the kitchen where Michelle was busy layering up a lasagne for dinner.

"Blaine, your music sheets have arrived," she said as she plopped a sheet of pasta onto the sauce, her back to him still as she concentrated on the lasagne.

"Oh awesome," Blaine smiled, picking up the A4 envelope on the kitchen counter. "You could've saved me the trip up the stairs you know,"

"I know, but I wanted to talk to you," she said, turning round and to find him alone.

"About?" Blaine asked.

"The boy downstairs," she said quietly so that Kurt wouldn't overhear.

"He has to be here." Blaine sighed. "We've been put together for this week's assignment in Glee. We didn't get to pick the pairs either. Mr. Shue pulled names from a hat,"

"Okay," Michelle nodded. "Well, I just want to say I don't like his being here. Not after what happened."

"Mom it was years ago," Blaine said, not that he was convinced by his own argument.

"I know but... I worry about my babies," she said, pulling Blaine into a hug. He laughed and hugged her back.

"I thought we agreed that Reed's the one with the title of 'baby' now," he said.

"You're all still 'my babies'. Even Coop,"

"Because he still acts like a child?" Blaine teased as he pulled back.

"Because he still acts like a child," Michelle confirmed, smiling and trying not to laugh. "Well, I'll let you two get back to your assignment. Maybe your sheet music will be of use. I can't remember what songs you ordered though,"

"Me neither," Blaine laughed as he gripped the envelope in his teeth to free his hands for his crutches.

"Blaine? He's not staying for dinner is he? Because there won't be enough lasagne once Reed gets home from Joshua's house," Michelle asked. Blaine shook his head then took the sheet music envelope from his teeth for a moment to speak.

"Nah, he's gotta go work at his dad's garage for a couple hours in like, half an hour." He said. Michelle nodded and went back to her cooking as Blaine stuck the envelope back in his teeth and made his way back to the seething Kurt in the basement.

"Good news," he mumbled with the paper still in his mouth as he slumped down onto the sofa before ripping into the envelope. "My sheet music turned up finally so now we have some more inspiration for our duet,"

"Oh great, because your music taste is perfect," scoffed Kurt as Blaine riffled through the sheets.

"Well you seemed to enjoy all my previous Glee performances," Blaine pointed out and smiling to himself as Kurt's jaw dropped open a little. "Hmm... let me guess, you're going to say no to Katy Perry, right?"

"Indeed I am," Kurt said stonily, arms crossed.

"Oh but this one. I've been looking forward to this arriving," Blaine smiled as he reached another page with a title on. He picked it up and showed it to Kurt whose stony look dropped.

"Maybe your taste isn't that terrible then," he conceded with annoyance. Blaine just grinned smugly.

* * *

"Kurt, Blaine. You're up next," Mr. Shue smiled at them from his seat in the audience. Kurt jumped agilely up the steps as Blaine did so awkwardly, each taking a place almost at opposite ends of the stage.

"Hit it," Kurt said to the AV student at the side of the stage with the music. He nodded and the backing music began playing throughout the large room, bouncing off the walls.

"_Now and then I think of when we were together," _Blaine sang at his cue in the music.  
_"Like when you said you felt so happy you could die..." _

"_So when we found that we could not make sense, well you said that we would still be friends,  
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over" _now it was Kurt's turn, his voice higher than Blaine's bitter almost accusatory tone that he used to match the song.

"_But you didn't have to cut me off, make out like it never happened and that we were nothing  
And I don't even need your love but you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough.  
No you didn't have to stoop so low;  
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number  
I guess that I don't need that though  
Now you're just somebody that I used to know"  
_Blaine took the lead as Kurt added in echoed lines for emphasis.

"_Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over...  
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done.  
But I don't wanna live that way; reading into every word you say.  
You said that you could let it go,  
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know!"_

"_But you didn't have to cut me off, make out like it never happened and that we were nothing!  
And I don't even need your love but you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough.  
No you didn't have to stoop so low;  
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number  
I guess that I don't need that though" _Kurt sang as Blaine sang backup, letting Kurt's voice soar louder than his own as he and various 'oh's in the arrangement they'd picked that fitted just right.

"_Now you're just somebody that I used to know" _they sung together, their voices harmonising to blend into a single voice that echoed throughout the auditorium.

"_Somebody  
I used to know  
Somebody  
Now you're just somebody that I used to know_

_I used to know  
That I used to know  
I used to know  
Somebody"_

As they sung the final lines, their voices overlapped as the lines melded together before ending on one final harmonised note, singing the final 'somebody' together. The Glee club erupted into applause and both Blaine and Kurt bowed as they made their way off the stage.

"Wow you guys, that was awesome. Although it did lack a little choreography," Mr. Shue joked as he applauded.

"Well, we kinda decided that it didn't need much. Plus I'm hardly in the right shape to be dancing much, even to that slow a song," Blaine joked as he slid into a seat next to Santana who hugged him happily.

"You were super hot when you're angsty," She teased, winking at him and making Blaine laugh.

"Oh well that was totally my aim," he teased, noticing out of the corner of his eyes Kurt's jealous look as Santana pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Artie, Tina. Your turn I think," Mr. Shue said as the class settled down. Artie wheeled himself quickly up the ramp onto the stage as Tina followed happily, grabbing her stool from offstage. Sitting centre stage along with Artie their music began and Blaine smiled at the soft music beat...

Kurt was too wrapped up in his thoughts to pay much attention to Artie and Tina. Though he hated to admit it, he was too busy worry about Blaine. Just on Tuesday he'd been so... upset. And then their song they'd picked... It pretty much fitted the pair of them. They weren't the same people they'd once been and he had shut Blaine out. Completely. He'd practically ignored Blaine for the first three months of school, pretending they didn't really know each other and that he only knew of him because he was on the football team. _What was the name of Blaine's song from Tuesday?_

_Oh, yes... Against All Odds. That's us all right too. I mean, the rest of the song wasn't really, but the title is a bit. Against all odds we're still here, we've ended up at the same school again, same glee club, I'm cheering him on on the field. I walked away from him and he just took it, didn't fight back like in that song. Oh god, what if that really __**was**__ directed a bit at me. That look on his face after his song..._

_But wait, he was meeting up with a friend afterschool Monday, we couldn't practice because of it. Maybe it's his friend he wanted to sing that song to? Yes. I'm sure that's it..._

"Don't be discouraged,  
Oh I realize,  
It's hard to take courage,  
In a world full of people.  
You can lose sight of it all,  
And the darkness inside you,  
Can make you feel so small..."

Tina's voice drifted over and drew Kurt's attention, pulling him away from his thoughts for a moment.

_Courage..._

"... That's why I love you.  
So don't be afraid to let them show,  
Your true colours...  
True colours are beautiful...  
Like a rainbow..."

_Why did I have to pay attention right now? Like, __**this second**__ now? Why'd 'that's why I love you' stick out... oh crap this is so not good. Okay Kurt, pull yourself together. Think about this properly._

"Don't be afraid, to let them show..."

_You know you need to at some point make some sort of formal apology to Blaine. Yeah you tried but that was a crap attempt and he was pissed off already anyway. No, a proper apology. You need to know what he's been through. Wait, when did I start talking in the second person? Oh crap. Geez Kurt you're a mess..._

The class clapped as Tina bowed and Artie did a little mock bow in his chair up on stage before they made their way back down the ramp off the stage. As the cheering died down Santana gave Blaine a smirk.

"Watch this. This is about to get intense," she smiled smugly as Puck saw her still standing after the cheering class had taken their seats again and stood too. The two made their way to the stage, ushering on a pair of boys who brought out two chairs, set them in the centre of the stage facing each other, then disappeared again. Most of the glee club were confused until the boys returned, this time carrying cellos. The two cellists took the seats and sat with their bows at the ready.

"So Puck, Santana. What're you two going to be singing for us today?" Mr. Shue asked happily from his chair in the audience.

"We're doing MJ," Puck grinned smugly.

Santana pointed to the musicians who simultaneously sprang into life, playing the opening bars as Santana and Puck got into character, giving each other intense looks as Santana stood behind one cellist as if using them as a shield as Puck tried to advance. They made a great duet pair, and Puck's voice quickly picked up the opening lines.

"As he came into the window, it was the sound of, a crescendo. Uh,  
He came into her apartment; he left the bloodstains on the carpet, uh!"

* * *

_Reaching out a desperate and broken arm, fingers clutched at mid air, finding nothing. She wasn't moving, hardly any of them were. Vision began to could black at the edges and gritted teeth couldn't keep a hold on consciousness forever._

* * *

Blaine rubbed a hand to his head to steady himself, the surge from the flashback making him feel dizzy and sick to his stomach.

"She was struck down, it was her doom.  
Annie, are you OK?" Puck continued, Santana now joining in with an echo.

"So Annie, are you OK?

* * *

"_Annie?" voice feeble, unable; lungs burning with the effort to speak. "Can you hear me?"_

_She didn't move, nor show she'd heard. Her eyes were shut and her breath stuttered and hitched. Spain searing down every bone, he turned, rolled over and groaned at the spike of red-hot pain that flared from his shoulder._

"_Jess?" he tried but her response was worse. Her chest rose once, twice..._

_Then nothing._

_Her eyes saw nothing as they stared upwards. The dark sky above them was the last thing she'd seen._

"_Jess!"_

_Fingers fumbled to find hers, grabbing, clutching to some last hope._

_The black was encroaching on his vision faster; threatening to take him over, drag him under by the scruff of his neck._

* * *

"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know why baby! I don't know!" Santana was still singing, her voice powering over Puck's as she belted out the words. Their performance on stage was captivating but Blaine couldn't look. His heart was busy racing, blood full of adrenaline, head spinning, vision blurring though he blinked back the black fog at the corners of his vision.

"You've been hit by,  
You've been struck by,  
A Smooth Criminal,"

The class erupted as the panting Puck and Santana snapped out of their final positions - right up in each other's faces as they shouted - to bow and laugh at the whoops called out to them. Blaine joined in as best he could, his pounding head only getting worse with the noise, but he forced a smile onto his face as Santana bounded happily back to her seat after receiving hugs from all those along the aisle - Brittany included and therefore hence her huge grin.

"You guys were great," Blaine said. His forced smile was plastered on, the same one he'd grown used to wearing whenever he came home from school after facing slushies everyday, after locker slams and dumpster tosses. The one he'd plastered on when he told him mom he was ready to go back to school after the rock salt incident. The one he'd worn his first day at Dalton when he didn't know if he was mentally ready to face anything ever again.

He meant what he said though, the performance - the little that Blaine had taken in - had been amazing. It wasn't her fault he just couldn't enjoy it as he would've liked to. She smiled, bashful as she should be on receiving a compliment from a boyfriend but she soon spotted the look on his face didn't match the pain in his eyes. As they slid back into their seats she leaned over to whisper into his ear.

"You okay?" she asked worriedly. "You look terrified,"

"I..." Blaine stuttered, stumbling over something to say when anyone might hear. He leaned over to whisper into her own ear. "Bad memories," was all he could say.

"Blaine..." Santana said, eyes wide with worry. "What..."

"When we're out of here?" Blaine pleaded quietly and she nodded quickly, taking his hand and squeezing it tight. He took a deep breath and swallowed down the taste of blood that he knew was just a memory, squeezing her hand back. Returning his attention as best he could, his mind still preoccupied, he realised Mr. Shue was just congratulating everyone on their great performances. The bell rang midway through his sentence but he was done talking really so he just told them he was looking forward to seeing the remaining duets in tomorrow's lesson. No one was listening as usual as they jumped up from their chairs and threw rucksacks over their shoulders.

Blaine and Santana joined sluggishly behind, Santana trying not to show how worried she was as Blaine tried to fake happiness. They made their way to Blaine's locker, Santana opening it and grabbing Blaine's books that he needed with pursed lips. The corridor was still half-full with students as they'd entered it but by the time Santana had fumbled with the lock after she's shut it everyone was long gone. Checking there was no one left, Santana finally spoke.

"Are you okay? Like, _really_ okay because you looked shell-shocked back there." she said.

"No." Blaine admitted. He knew there was no point with his usual 'I'm always okay' here because Santana knew that was still code for 'no not alright at all'. "I... I just had some... flashbacks... they were... the worst night I've lived through."

"Oh my god... shit Blaine... wait, was it the song? Because you were totally fine before it?"

"A little... just a couple of lines..." Blaine admitted sadly. He didn't want to make Santana guilty as it wasn't even her fault. "Just... '_Annie_'... 'Cause she was... close... and, and the _bloodstains_ lines... I... there was _so much_ _blood_ that night," Blaine stumbled out, eyes screwing shut and wishing he hadn't as the image flared behind his eyelids, angry and red and painful.

"_Shit_ Blaine. I... I kinda knew you had it was bad but... _fuck_. Have you ever told anyone 'bout all of this?" Santana asked worriedly, her hand resting on his upper arm as he opened his eyes again.

"No." Blaine sighed. "Some of the warblers guessed it was bad and avoided the subject of my pre-Dalton time at all costs. Apart from that..."

"Blaine I... I wanna know." Santana blurted out.

"You don't."

"Yes, I do." Santana confirmed. "Blaine, I want to know you. I want to know what I should've ever say, what upsets you so I can avoid it. I want to be there Blaine. You're like me in that we bottle everything up and pretend we're fine. We're 'always okay' on the outside but hell inside. You've no idea how much you're helping me just be more of myself and I really, _really_ want to help you too Blaine. I'm serious. I've never even been this serious before and it's scaring the hell out of me how much I care about you Blaine. Please let me in. Let me past one of your walls," she pleaded, looking Blaine dead in the eyes throughout. Blaine held her gaze for a moment longer before he dropped it to the floor, sighing, letting out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

"I... okay." He said quietly.

"Okay?"

"Yeah just... not here. It's... it's a fucking long story and... god it's _five years_ of my life Santana," Blaine said helplessly. Her eyes grew a little wide but she took a deep breath and held out a hand to him.

"Then it's five years you survived," she said. Blaine shot her a weak smile in return, taking her hand and she pulled him into a hug. He almost collapsed into her embrace but pulled back, sniffing and wiping his eyes on the back of his hand.

"Can we go somewhere else? I don't wanna break down in school," he laughed weakly.

"Sure. C'mon. I'll drive us to your place," Santana said.

* * *

_He's gotta be around somewhere. He's not that fast on those crutches though he does seem pretty practiced already. This place is practically empty already I just hope he's still here. Wait- voices! Someone's still here._

Kurt picked his way quietly through the empty hallway, following the voice that was coming from up head. He stopped short just around the corner when he figured out whose voice it was and shamelessly listened in.

"... It's scaring the hell out of me how much I care about you Blaine. Please let me in. Let me past one of your walls,"

Santana was pleading with Blaine, actual emotion in her voice. That alone stopped Kurt from rounding the corner. Instead he pressed his back to the wall, listening in closely. Santana _never_ showed this much emotion, especially at Cheerio practice when she was busy with her HBIC performance.

"I... okay." Came Blaine's weak reply a few silent moments later and what Kurt would give to see the looks exchanged then. His voice alone sounded so weak and broken, god knows what his face looked like.

"Okay?" Santana confirmed hopefully.

"Yeah just... not here. It's... it's a fucking long story and... god it's _five years_ of my life Santana," Blaine said, sounding pathetically helpless and broken.

_...Five years... oh..._

"Then it's five years you survived," Santana encouraged. There was a sound of movement, _a hug maybe,_ before there was the sound of sniffing and Blaine spoke again.

"Can we go somewhere else? I don't wanna break down in school," he laughed weakly.

"Sure. C'mon. I'll drive us to your place," Santana said encouragingly. Their footsteps faded, the metal clink of Blaine's crutches on the linoleum floor echoing off the walls before a door swung noisily open then shut behind them.

Kurt slumped back against the wall, sliding all the way down to sit at the base of it.

_Five years..._

_It was five years ago that..._

_**Shit.**_


	12. Graveyard Greetings

**A/N: To start another amazing thank you to my wonderful **_Charmedmich_**, I always hope you enjoy each and every chapter and I'm so glad you comment every chapter ! Yay! and **_IamAnabelle_**, sorry if it's weird. Michelle just really hated seeing her little Blainers get bullied because Coop got bullied a little when he was in middle school. Things got better for Cooper when he was in high school and became popular because he was sporty and all the girls likes him, but Blaine didn't have that and she kinda blames Kurt for starting it all off as before that Blaine had never been bullied by anyone. Sorry if that's a spoiler too, I just kinda wanted to justify Michelle cause I love her so :D there are so many fics where Blaine and his parents really don't get on and I wanted to swap it round a little. Anyway, on with chapter 12!**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

"Come with me," Santana smiled, her eyes telling Blaine she had something up her sleeve and knowing Santana, he wasn't sure it was a good idea to follow. But, after Santana and he had talked the night before, Blaine had gone to the hospital for his appointment and had had his cast taken off and been given a new padded support boot thing. Blaine hadn't paid attention to what it was called, but was simply glad it meant he didn't need the crutches anymore and could now walk around putting pressure on his foot. The support boot took most of this weight and spread the rest of it to parts of his foot that weren't injured, therefore meaning he could walk and even run if he really tried. But what he was most excited about was that it meant he could dance a little next week for sectionals.

So with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Blaine let Santana drag him down a corridor by the hand. She let him directly to her locker and stopped there, opening the combination and revealing the inside of her door.

"Santana," Blaine said touched.

"D'you like it?" she asked as Blaine reached out a hand to trace his fingertips over the photo. It was of him, concentrating hard on the piano he was playing in the choir room, his clothing telling him the photo was taken on Tuesday as he performed Against All Odds.

"You didn't have to," he said quietly.

"Well, I just wanted to put up a picture of my amazing, crazy inspirational boyfriend in my locker." Santana smirked proudly. Blaine shot her an amused smile in return and she let out a short laugh.  
"The things you told me last night... I don't think I know of anyone who's been through anything like what you have. You're the strongest person I know Blaine. Apart from maybe Puck who can nearly lift me with one hand,"

"Thank you," Blaine smiled, his eyes shining.

"I think it's been too long since someone thought about you first," Santana said, a knowing look in her eyes.

"I'm glad it was you who did," Blaine said, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm glad too. I'm actually starting to feel like a better person," she admitted quietly into his ear.

"Oh well that definitely deserves a hug," Blaine teased, lifting Santana off her feet by leaning backwards, his arms strong around her waist as she kicked her feet up in surprise, giggling as she returned to the floor.

"You're such a dork still though. I'll still give you that," she laughed, earning a similar laugh off Blaine.

"A title I'm proud of," he said, lifting his head high theatrically just as the bell rang above their heads.

"Come on dork-face," she laughed. "Time for Glee."

"Lead the way." He smiled, an arm resting happily around her waist as they walked together to the choir room.

* * *

"Yo Blaine! You're outta your cast," Artie called happily as they entered the room together.

"Sure am," Blaine beamed, high-fiving him and slipping into the chair beside him. "Now I can actually dance for sectionals."

"Awesome man" Artie beamed. "We're totally gonna rock sectionals. I got a sneak peak at Mr. Shue's shortlist of songs he's considering we do for sectionals and there's a _3OH!3_ track in there! It's going to be freaking awesome,"

"No way? Mr. Shue's listened to _3OH!3_ before? I thought all he listened to was Journey?" Blaine laughed.

"So did I," Artie laughed. "Oh shoot here he comes,"

"Good morning class," Mr. Shue smiled as he walked in. The rest of the class quickly filed in right before the bell rang out again for the beginning of the lesson. Mr. Shue then quickly started the lesson, inviting any of the remaining duets to perform. Sam and Quinn happily hopped up to the front each giving each other lingering sideways glances and shy smiles as their music began.

They sang _Without Love_ from Hairspray together, their voices pretty perfectly matched as Sam twirled Quinn around a bit, taking her hand as they danced. Their duet was perfect, their voices harmonising better than Rachel and Finn's and when they finished their song they slid happily back to their seats, sitting together and slipping their hands into one another's. Blaine looked over and caught Quinn's gaze. She smiled at him and he gave her a patented 'I told you so' look that she resisted a laugh at.

"_Okay. You were right. Shut up," _she mouthed at him as he held back his own laugh, returning his attention to Mr. Shue who was now talking about their sectionals setlist and how they were going to structure it. It sounded like a very elaborate plan, the way he was dividing up the solo sections in just the first song was mindboggling but Blaine was happy to find he had two definite parts. It was just a matter of practice to see if he'd pull it off and sing the right lines. Blaine sighed as the period ended, setting himself up for the weekend. He had plans; another meet up with Mal, visiting Casey. He wanted to go visit Jessica though, preferably some time when he wan't likely to see anyone too. By the end of the class he'd decided he would go tonight, he had no real plans for tonight anyway apart from going home and working out. So as the day ended, he sloped off towards his car - Sugar taking her own today because she had shopping plans with Tina - and sank into his driver's seat.

* * *

"You would like it; being in Glee. You'd fit right in with Quinn I think. She's so much like you. She has your hair, your defiance. She's strong like you... You were always the strongest of us..." Blaine said, his eyes finally spilling over with tears. He usually managed to last out longer than this; usually he's there half an hour or more before he starts crying but not today. Today he's too busy wishing she were still here to keep his dry eyes. Too busy wishing she could be in the audience. Too busy thinking of the first time they performed together and how she'd hugged him tight and told him to break a leg before she all but pushed him onto the stage to take his starting position.

He sat back, wiping his eyes on his sleeve and adjusting his jeans that had bunched up, coming un-tucked from the stupid foot brace that just reminds him constantly of how breakable he is and yet how he should've been in her place. She was always there and then she wasn't. And Blaine had seen her go.

He tilted his head back, staring up at the pale indigo sky where the clouds had parted. It was getting late, he knew it was but he'd spent so long on the phone to his mom to explain he was going to be back late and then talking to Rachel who'd rung him up and suggested they practice at some point over the weekend their lines for the opening song for Sectionals because their lines ran onto each other. So it had been over an hour after school had finished by the time he'd finally pushed open his car's door and walked the too familiar route through the cemetery. So now it was getting late, and he was starting to wish he had a coat.

_And I __**have **__another jacket as well. But it's in the trunk of my stupid car. Urgh, suck it up Blaine. Just deal with it._

"I sung a song for you in Glee this week," he said sadly. "Against All Odds... you always liked British music like Phil Collins. And I kinda hoped that... against all odds... this might all be a dream. That I might wake up in hospital and you'd still be alive. You'd still be there, slapping me around the head for being so defeatist all the time. Or that we'd still be busy getting dolled up for the dance and this is all just some terrible nightmare daydream I'm having. But it isn't... and you aren't."

He rubbed tiredly at his eyes, wiping away the tears he'd not even had the choice but to let them fall.

"I miss you," he whispered, his voice hoarse and thick from crying now. "I miss you all. Pete and Annie, and Jo and Rob. But I miss you most. _God_ I miss you most."

He sighed and checked his watch and, finding it was gone half six he stood awkwardly and brushed the mud and dust off his pants. He leant back down and grabbed the wilting flowers from his last visit and rearranged the new ones he'd brought.

"I'm still sorry. I'm always sorry, Jess. I wish you were still here," he said, reaching out his hand to touch her tombstone, running a thumb gently over the smooth marble before taking a deep breath and turning around. He walked slowly through the graves, never paying attention to the names on them. He ran his fingers over the crumpling petals of the tulips in his hands, the once bright yellow now dull and lifeless. He reached the exit of the cemetery and entrance to the parking lot quickly, throwing the lifeless flowers into the trash before he his mind could create a metaphor for them.

"Blaine?" a voice called out when he was halfway towards his car.

"Yes?" Blaine asked, still with tears in his eyes as he turned and spotted the figure of Kurt standing by his Navigator. He wasn't in his uniform anymore. Instead he was wearing a set of plain dark jeans - that are a lot looser than the skinny jeans he always used to wear to school before he became a Cheerio a voice in Blaine's head decided to add - a simple grey button up and a thick dark grey cardigan. It was tasteful yet practical, warm enough to protect from the cool evening breeze whilst still looking fashionable.

Kurt stumbled for words as he took in the look on Blaine's face, his mouth opening and shutting but no words forming. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep steadying breath before finally managing to say something.

"Are you okay?" he asked, causing Blaine to let out a joyless bark of laughter.

"Clearly," he replied sarcastically, shaking his head, wiping his eyes and continuing towards his car.

"Blaine, wait," Kurt tried, starting after Blaine.

"Don't bother Kurt." Blaine said, sighing. "Tell her I say hi,"

"Tell who?" Kurt asked, confused.

"Lizzie obviously. Who else would you be here to see?" Blaine said.

"You... you still remember my mom," Kurt asked, brought up short at the mention of her and at the direct mention of her first name.

"Of course I do." Blaine said offhandedly. "No matter how hard you try to forget the past it never really works,"

"Blaine I..."

"It's fine." Blaine waved away. "I have to go,"

And with that, he unlocked his car and jumped in, shoving his keys in the ignition and pulling out of his parking space, not looking at Kurt except to see that he didn't run him over as he left. He didn't need to see the look on Kurt's face to know it was pitiful.

He just knew.

* * *

Kurt tried. He did. He looked for an opportunity but it never presented itself. He knew he had to talk to Blaine alone about this because in front of anyone else would involve explaining the whole story. And Kurt wasn't even sure he deserved their attention long enough to hear him out. He was wrong, he knew he had been from almost the moment it was over. But then it was too late. He's thrown everything he had with Blaine away that day.

He knew that even now it would be something he'd never do. But the fact he did it back then...

Blaine was right to hate him. He was right to, just as Kurt hated himself for it.

He just wanted to go back in time to stop himself from doing it. Then he'd still have his best friend. He'd still have someone who understood everything because they _talked _to each other. They didn't keep secrets; that just wasn't _them_. They stood up for each other and Kurt knew that without him in his side that day, Blaine had had no one. Kurt had betrayed him, and Kurt still kicked himself every time he saw Blaine's eyes grow distant during their frenzied Sectionals practice sessions that week. Every time he spotted Santana squeezing his hand and Blaine shooting her a small smile back. Because now she knew him better than he did. And he wanted it all back.

He wanted back his old Blaine.

The Blaine with crazy curly hair.  
The Blaine with a 'The Little Mermaid' lunchbox.  
The Blaine who always stuck up for him and never wanted a 'thank you'.  
The Blaine who would brush off every 'thank you' with 'that's what best friends are for' and a smile.

The Blaine who wasn't broken inside.

The old Blaine.

The eleven-year-old Blaine.


	13. Sectionals

**SO! Yeah sorry, this one's long but I didn't want to split it. I just thought it would be better as just the one chapter. :P Thank you to KeepCalmAndBeTotallyAwesome! Great to know you liked it! I hope I'm not annoying people by not revealing Blaine's full story yet but I will get there I promise!**

* * *

**Chapter 13  
**

Stepping through the gates of Dalton Academy was such a weird déjà vu for Blaine. It was their turn to host the sectionals competition and Blaine lagged behind the rest of the New Directions, greeting passing students with a wave, reminiscing about the time he'd watched the Hartman twins re-enact a section of Assassins Creed by scaling the outside of the Ridgeway dorm block. He held back a laugh at that, having remembered sitting studying quietly one moment then watching the twins climb up his window ledge, wave, then keep climbing.

The air was cool, the breeze just enough to make Blaine turn the collar up on his jacket as he walked through the grounds a little behind the New Directions who were all in awe at the sheer size of the school. There wasn't snow just yet but soon would be. A couple of days maybe? It was so close to December - merely two days - that everywhere was getting decorated with Christmas lights already, Dalton being no exception. They'd gone all out, lights up along the paths that glittered dimly in the early afternoon light. There was mistletoe up in the arches in the gardens off to one side, a couple of sprigs in the doors to the auditorium too, just for the occasion Blaine guessed.

Then he was through the doors and the warm air inside it was almost overpowering in contrast. But in reality it felt perfect, his cheeks red and flushed as he stepped into the warmth. He caught up the short distance between himself and Tina at the back of the gang, following them into their assigned green room. It was nice inside; large leather couches, thick detailed curtains, two walls lined with books and a small dark upright piano in the corner. Blaine immediately walked over to the bookshelf and skimmed the books, looking for something in particular. Upon finding it, he smiled to himself and pulled the book out, turning it around so the spine if facing the wall.

"Blaine what are you doing?" asked Rachel.

"Are you looking for a passage into a secret room like in Scooby Doo? Because I bet this place totally has one somewhere," Brittany offered.

"No secret rooms in here Britt," Blaine smiled. "I've checked before. But the Warblers do have a habit of putting cameras in the green rooms before competitions, just to catch any gossip from the other show choirs before performances."

"Nice one Blaine," Puck high fived.

"Insider knowledge," Rachel smirked.

"Only a little." Blaine shrugged. "I only boarded here for six months."

"Six months is long enough to scope them out Blaine," Rachel said pointedly.

"Rachel, it's been another five almost since I left here, including holidays. There's bound to have been hundreds of changes," Blaine reasoned, spotting another book that looked like it held a hidden camera and turning it around on the shelf too.

"Either way, you'll know where the bathrooms in this place are right?" asked Mercedes, standing from where she'd flopped on the couch to diffuse the situation before Rachel got angry as she lost an argument.

"Indeed I do." Blaine said, following her towards the door. Nobody else decided to join them so once Blaine had shown Mercedes the way to the bathrooms he slipped down the corridor towards where he knew his friends would be. Upon rounding a corner and spotting the backs of two very blonde heads he snuck up as quietly as he could, pulling a small nerf gun from inside his jacket and firing two foam rounds in quick succession at the backs of their heads.

"Blaine!" they cried happily as they span round to face him before promptly barrelling into him and nearly sending all three of them crashing to the floor.

"Easy guys, injured hobbit coming through," Blaine laughed.

"Injured?"  
"You can't be injured." The twins said in quick succession, their words tagging into one almost continuous sentence.

"Well I am," Blaine shrugged as they pulled back and finally noticed his foot.

"Oh Blaine!"  
"What did you do this time?"  
"Was it something heroic?"  
"Something to woo a certain someone?"  
"Something daring for sure." The twins rambled happily, easily excited as usual. That would probably never change.

"I played football," Blaine laughed.

"You what?" they chorused together.

"I played for my new school McKinley's team. Got smacked down and fractured my foot," Blaine explained. "So no; not heroic,"

"Shame,"  
"You were always heroic as a Ridgeway."

"No, I just put up with you two. You guys didn't really think I'd forget about the hidden green room cameras did you?" Blaine laughed.

"You didn't find them already did you?" Evan sighed.

"Yes," Blaine smirked. "I'd know a Ridgeway scam a mile off after sticking around next to you for six months."

"Damn." The boys sighed, causing Blaine to laugh again.

"We need to see you more Blaine" complained Evan.

"Yes! I know! You should come with us for senior skip day!" Ethan his twin chirped up.

"You do realise neither of you are seniors, and neither am I, right?" Blaine asked.

"So it's more a Ridgeway skip day," Ethan admitted.

"Skip _week_," Evan corrected.

"Ridgeway Skip week yes."

"Oh god. What on earth have you got planned?" Blaine groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

"Vacation!"  
"Obviously,"  
"New York four days,"  
"LA the next,"  
"Home again for when school ends,"  
"Or not."  
"Or not," Evan conceded. "_We're _staying in LA for the rest of the holidays,"  
"Hence why it's the second destination,"  
"You have to come Blaine! It'll be like the old gang from last year!"  
"We'll have so much fun!"

"Are you seriously asking me this then?" Blaine asked.

"Of course! We're all leaving Sunday lunchtime and you _have_ to come with us."  
"Please Blaine?"  
"We won't bug you about your new school or anything!"  
"No gossip searching,"  
"No relationship questions,"  
"No prying into Showchoir matters,"

"Seriously? Okay maybe if you two are even suggesting _that_ without being prompted then you might actually mean it," Blaine gave in to them.

"So you'll come?" Ethan asked, eyes childish and pleadingly wide. His twin then copied his look exactly, the pair of them resembling Puss in Boots from Shrek and causing Blaine to laugh.

"I don't know. You haven't exactly given me much notice have you?" he said.

"Ring Mrs A! She loved us and you know she'd let you come with us!" Evan suggested, earning an enthusiastic nod off his twin.

"Urgh, fine." Blaine gave in, rolling his eyes and pulling his cell from his pocket. He unlocked it and quickly hit the speed dial for Michelle.

"_Hi Blaine. Is everything alright?"_ came Michelle's voice from the cell's speakers, the twins having given Blaine a look that said 'speaker phone please, we want to say hi'.

"Yeah Mom. I just bumped into the Hartman twins,"

"Hi Mrs A!" they chorused loudly into the microphone, earning a laugh from Michelle.

"_Hello boys!" _she called back.

"Mrs A! We wanna kidnap Blaine for a week!" Evan explained excitedly.

"_Oh you're asking permission this time round?" _she laughed bemused.

"Yes please Mrs A!" Ethan added. "We want to take Blaine with us on our Senior Skip Week next week!"

"_I thought you two were juniors too?" _she asked.

"It's more a Ridgeway skip week apparently," Blaine sighed. "Anyway, they plan on going to New York and LA-"

"-We're heading to New York on Sunday at lunchtime and staying at David's family's penthouse out there. Then after four days in New York we're flying up to LA to say at Trent's family's Hollywood mansion out there. Then after four days there, most of the gang are flying back to Lima for the holidays or on to wherever their families are. We're staying out in LA at the end of the trip and we'd happily fly you and Reedles out to spend Christmas and New Year with us too! It would be super fun Mrs A!"

"_So that's eight days in the company of you two, plus how many other Ridgeway boys?" _Michelle asked.

"There's going to be us, David, Wes, Trent, Nick, Jeff, Dwight, Dean and Arthur. So ten of us in total so far," Evan counted off on his fingers as he named each Ridgeway boy.

"_Well," _Michelle sighed. _"If you're going Blaine can you at least take someone sane with you? I'd be much happier if you took someone like Santana with you. She's at least sensible."_

"We can do that!"  
"Of course we can!"  
"We'd be happy to take her too," the twins smiled, practically bouncing on the spot.

"I'm guessing that's a yes?" Blaine asked.

"_Yes. And if I do say so myself, I would love to spend Christmas and new years with your mental friends Blaine. I'm sure Reed would like it too,"_

"Of course Mrs A! We'd love you to come stay with us for the holidays!"

"_Let me just check with my official organizer here. Reed? D'you wanna go to Los Angeles for Christmas to stay with Evan and Ethan?" _Michelle asked Reed who was clearly in the seat next to her. They'd bought tickets to the Sectionals performance, as Michelle always came to every one of Blaine's performances, and Reed had insisted he didn't need to use a booster seat this time round. There was a small squeal of excitement form the other end of the phone that was clearly Reed.

"_Yes! We love the twins! They're so nice and they made me cookies!" _Reed called out happily.

"_I think that's a resounding yes then," _Michelle smiled. _"Boys, I'll come and find you at the end of the show to talk details and please tell me your parents are here and that they'll be okay with this?"_

"Yes they are! And they'll be totally fine with it!"  
"Don't worry Mrs A! We'll take good care of our Blainey whilst he's with us."

"I'll talk to Santana after we perform. I should really be getting back to our green room actually. I'll see you later Mom,"

"_I'll be waving at you," _Michelle said cheerily. _"Good luck boys!"_

"Thanks Mrs A!" chorused the twins as Blaine hung up.

"You two get me in more trouble in less than twenty minutes than I've been in at school in under five months," Blaine groaned.

"You'll love it Blaine! Now go find your New Directions and get ready to sing."  
"And tell your friend about the trip!" Ethan and Evan said, pushing Blaine back towards his own green room and he laughed but obliged.

"I'll see you nutters later," he laughed, heading back down the corridor and shooting one last foam bullet at the pair before running off before they could retaliate.

* * *

"Gee Blaine, where've you been?" reprimanded Rachel as soon as Blaine was back through the green room door. He leaned backwards shocked a little at her suddenness before regaining composure.

"Sorry. I just bumped into a couple of my old friends in the corridor and was so busy catching up I forgot about the time. We've still got a while yet though. We've got another five minutes before we should head out to our seats to watch the first performance," Blaine shrugged, moving over to sit with Quinn and Santana on one of the leather sofas. He ignored Rachel and her glare and instead turned his attention to Santana.

"Please tell me you aren't planning on doing anything in particular next week," he whispered into her ear as the chatter started up again around them.

"Not really. Why?" Santana replied.

"I'll explain properly later. But d'you think you could get out of Cheerio practice next week?"

"Ouch, not sure. I could do I guess, I'm one of Sue's favourite what with being deputy-head of the squad. I'm guessing you have plans?" Santana asked, intrigued.

"Big ones. Ridgeway boys are inviting us to Ridgeway skip week, their equivalent of senior skip day. And it's not confined to this state," he smirked, pulling back to watch Santana's eyes grow wide with excitement.

"No way?"

"Yes way." Blaine grinned. "I'll fill you in properly later, but it's so on. I basically have no choice now, I'm being dragged along and my mom said she'd rather I had someone sane go with me to help keep the boys in order a little. She suggested I ask you,"

"She did?" Santana smiled.

"Yeah, she really likes you," Blaine admitted happily.

"So wait, wait. Which state are we going to then?" Santana asked excitedly.

"State**s**. Plural," Blaine said, biting his bottom lip to stop his grin from becoming wider and goofy.

"No. Freaking. Way." Santana gasped, her mouth dropping open.

"C'mon guys, let's go grab our seats," announced Mr. Shuester, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention.

"Oh I am so going. Screw what coach says," Santana laughed as she stood alongside Blaine and followed him out the door.

* * *

The other competing show choir's performance was okay in the eyes of the Glee club (and appalling in Rachel's) But Eastbarrow Prep school just weren't that good. They lacked everything interesting in their performance and Brittany actually fell asleep. Santana gently woke her when the performance was over and they all clapped politely as the curtain closed on the teens on stage. It was only a short five-minute wait until the curtains opened again to reveal the Warblers in perfect formation. Silence filled the hall for a few seconds before the perfectly harmonised voices of the warbler filled the room, singing out the opening beats of Firework. Jon and Trent shared the lead with the twins filling the majority of the echoes, creating a great mix that had everyone on their feet clapping along and dancing a little to the beat. Blaine had to hand it to them that they were amazing. He knew he'd only been there six months and that they'd been doing alright before he joined, but it was still great to see his friends up there singing their hearts out.

When the song ended the crowd cheered and whooped before the boys broke into their second song.

Jon started off as lead again, singing the opening bars of Little Lion Man. by the end of the first chorus however, the song was changing, Trent adding echoed lines from Just The Way You Are until at the second chorus it morphed completely, turning fully into the Bruno Mars song. It was perfectly executed in true Warbler style and the whole auditorium was on their feet cheering as the curtains closed. Right before they were obscured from view, Blaine spotted the twins who sent a wink in Blaine's direction. Blaine couldn't resist the laugh as he cheered along before the New Directions quickly rushed from their seats to get backstage.

The curtain lifted when they were all in place and their music began gently, Artie wheeling himself forward to sing the first lines.

"_Say my name like it's the last time,  
Live today like it's your last night,  
We want to cry but we know its alright,  
Cause I'm with you and you're with me,"_

"_Butterflies, butterflies... We were meant to fly,  
You and I, you and I... colours in the sky,  
We could rule the world someday, somehow  
But we'll never be as bright as we are now..."  
_Tina joined in, moving forwards to stand alongside him.

"_We're standing in a light that won't fade,  
Tomorrow's coming but this won't change,  
'Cause some days stay gold forever."_

With Mr. Shue's complicated arrangement, Mike moved forward and sang, to be followed by Quinn a moment later.  
_"The memory of being here with you,  
Is one I'm gonna take my life through,  
'Cause some days stay gold forever."_

Then the beat kicked in and the audience got to their feet, clapping and cheering as the New Directions danced about the stage to their rigorous choreography. Everyone got their chance with a lead, swapping from the many layers of the chorus one moment to lead the next.

"_I won't, I won't let your memory go, cause your colours they burn so bright,  
Who knows, who knows what tomorrow will hold? But I know that we'll be alright," _Mercedes sung, her voice strong and bold as she gave the audience a show of sass and diva that she loved to show off.

"_'Cause we're Butterflies, butterflies... We were meant to fly,  
You and I, you and I... colours in the sky,  
We could rule the world someday, somehow,  
But we'll never be as bright as we are now." _Blaine sang, his turn in the spotlight as he took a spot centre stage. Rachel crept up behind him and rested her elbows on his shoulders as he did so before singing out her lines.

"_We're standing in a light that won't fade,  
Tomorrow's coming but this won't change,  
Cause some days stay gold forever."_

Then the pair sung together at the front of the stage, facing the audience as they stood side-by-side, voices harmonizing over the words.

"_The memory of being here with you,  
Is one I'm gonna take my life through,  
'Cause some days stay gold forever."_

They dropped their heads as the song ended and the crowd cheered and whooped and Blaine swore he heard one of Jon's trademarked wolf whistles from amongst the cheers. Blaine and Rachel quickly moved backwards to join the group for their next song, the electric guitar signalling it's beginning.

"_You shout it loud,  
But I can't hear a word you say  
I'm talking loud not saying much  
I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet  
You shoot me down, but I get up"_

Rachel sung their introduction, head held high. Mercedes then joined her, moving to her side.

"_I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose  
Fire away, fire away  
Ricochet, you take your aim  
Fire away, fire away"  
_Then their voices harmonized together, belting out the main chorus.

"_You shoot me down but I won't fall  
I am titanium  
You shoot me down but I won't fall  
I am titanium!"_

Britt and Mike moved forwards, breaking out into some epic dance moves in the break between verses, earning whoops and cheers from the crowd. Rachel and Mercedes moved back into the formation, and Blaine broke free, slipping off to one side then moving to the front of the stage for his verse.

"_Cut me down,  
But it's you who have further to fall  
Ghost town, haunted love...  
Raise your voice, sticks and stones may not break my bones" _Blaine couldn't help but look down at his support boot and roll his eyes theatrically, shaking his head and pretending to tut._  
"I'm talking loud not saying much._

_I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose  
Fire away, fire away  
Ricochet, you take your aim  
Fire away, fire away"_

Blaine made his way back to the group as he sung the beginning of the chorus, the whole group's voices blending together to sing the rest with him. After another epic dance section from Mike and Britt, their song ended with a flourish, the whole group standing as a solid unit like the Warblers had, but in their own way. They weren't arranged to look perfect, they were arranged to show they belonged together. Their whole team was made up of all sorts of people, and just the fact they made such a great team together was what Mr. Shue wanted to show.

The heavy beat kicked in of their final song Puck stepped forward, badass flare and swag turned on.

"_Windows down,  
Pedal to the sneakers,  
Turn up the volume,  
Blow out the speakers,  
Best clothes on,  
Going down on fire,  
Turn the lights off,  
Turn the music higher."_

"_I broke free," _Finn sang, stepping forwards from the middle of the group to stand at Puck's side.  
_"Cast away,  
Won't find me.  
And now you're never gonna break me down,  
Gonna break me down..."_

"_This is all,  
I can take,  
So farewell cause you're never gonna find me now,  
Gonna find me now" _the two boys sang in unison.

"_We are young! (Woah!)  
We are young! (Woah!)  
We drink and we fight and we love just because  
We are numb,  
We're on the run,  
And you're never gonna chase us down.  
We are young."_

The whole crowd was stomping their feet to the beat, clapping and cheering, joining in with the shouts in the song.

"_Dance with the devil  
Don't be shy  
Nothings gonna stop us  
We can't die  
Sleepin' in a bed  
Waking up outside  
At least I can say I tried"_

Britt took the beginning of the second verse, shaking her hips at the 'dance with the devil' line as Santana jumped up beside her to finish the verse with her.

"_So you fathers don't let go of your daughters  
We take what we want we don't borrow  
Think I found a message in a bottle  
This says 'Drink me, drown your sorrows.'"_

"_I broke free, cast away  
Won't find me  
And now your never gonna break me down,  
Gonna break me down.  
This is all I can take,  
So farewell cause you're never gonna find me now,  
Gonna find me now..._

_We are young! We are young!  
We drink and we fight and we love just because, we are numb,  
We're on the run and you're never gonna chase us down.  
We are young, young, young  
We are young, young, young  
We are young, young, young  
And you're never gonna chase us down  
We are young."_

Sam stepped up and took the bridge, arms slung happily around Mike and Blaine's shoulders.

"_If I'm doin' this right  
I'll be leavin' tonight  
I got my bags packed tight  
So many reasons to leave  
I got my hands on my keys  
Yeah, I'll be leavin' tonight"_

Then for the last chorus, the entire New Directions sang together, their voices filling the large room and bouncing off the walls as they sang their hearts out.

_We are young! We are young!  
We drink and we fight and we love just because, we are numb,  
We're on the run and you're never gonna chase us down.  
We are young, young, young  
We are young, young, young  
We are young, young, young  
And you're never gonna chase us down  
We are young._

_Hey!_

With a final punch into the air the audience erupted, cheering on all sides and another of Jon's whistles echoing out. They New Directions beamed out at the audience as the curtains closed before them, and only when they were fully closed did they break their final positions to scream and jump up and down in excitement, running to hug one another and scream some more. They ran off the side of the stage happily back to their green room, proud as hell as Mr. Shue cheered them on from where he'd been watching in the wings, clapping them on the backs as they rushed happily past.

* * *

Blaine's smile was so huge it felt unnatural on his face, beginning to hurt his cheeks as he continued smiling. He was almost glad when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket on his way back to their green room because it meant his face wouldn't be permanently frozen in his goofy grin. He pulled it out in the corridor just outside the green room door so he could hear whoever was calling and smiled to himself when he saw it was Malcolm.

"Hey,"

"_Blaine! That was totally awesome man!"_ Mal laughed and cheered. His voice was a little hard to hear properly due to the ruckus still outside in the auditorium what was only just dying down a little.

"Thanks," Blaine smiled sheepishly.

"_You in the green room? I need to come see you and congratulate you guys on that supermegafoxyawesomehot performance!"_

"Mall how did you find our performance supermegafoxyawesomehot?" Blaine laughed.

"_Uh, your friend was pretty hot. I think you said she was Mercedes?" _Mal laughed sheepishly.

"You're such a-"

"_Awesome friend?"_ Mal offered.

"I was going to say _idiot_ but that works too I guess. C'mon backstage. Tell them you're with us or something if you get stopped." Blaine laughed.

"_Will do! Be there in a few Bee!" _Mal said cheerily as he hung up. Blaine shook his head a little in disbelief and slipped into the room where everyone was still hugging and jumping up and down.

"You were awesome up there," he commented to Santana and Britt as he found them hugging happily, a huge smile back on his face.

"Thanks! It was so much fun!" Britt beamed, her smile infectious as she pulled back from Santana who was also grinning hugely.

"This girl can totally dance," Santana smiled proudly at Britt, causing her to smile shyly at the praise.

"Thanks," the smiled. "It was so much fun. I got to do all the fun moves out there,"

"You sure did. They looked super hard too. I bet I would've fallen over," Blaine said as he tightened the Velcro on his foot support absently.

"But that's because you're like Bambi! You'd hurt yourself if you tried. You've gotta be stronger and stand up taller. That way you won't fall over more," she encouraged.

"I'll try," Blaine shrugged, smiling at her. A knock sounded at the door and several people turned to look at it in confusion.

"Don't worry guys. It's just one of my friends from my old school. He wanted to come say hi," Blaine explained as he opened the door to reveal Malcolm in his chair. He had two, one black and 'boring' and the that he was using today, which was a deep red with white stripes painted on it.

"Blaine!" Mal called happily, pulling the boy into a hug and nearly causing Blaine to fall into his lap in the process.

"Hey!" Blaine laughed as he straightened up. "Guys, I want to introduce you to my friend Malcolm. Mal, these are the New Directions."

"Blaine you call me Malcolm one more time so help me I'll run you down in this thing," Mal warned playfully causing Blaine to laugh. "It's Mal and I just wanted to tell you guys you were freaking awesome up there and should totally win,"

"Preach!" Artie nodded, rolling over to give him a high five.

"Dude! You must be Artie. Bee told me bout you, and dude, he was right about the wheels. Seriously, where'd you get the lights from? I need to seriously pimp out my ride," Mal gushed enthusiastically. Artie seemed immediately impressed as they both launched into an in depth conversation about wheelchairs. The rest of the New Directions all chatted with Mal at some point over the next half an hour that the judges took to make their decisions and vote. Somehow Mal even managed to get a phone number off Mercedes and Blaine couldn't help but laugh a little as Mal boasted later to Blaine about his chatting up skills. But soon they were called back to the stage to announce the winners and everyone got suddenly very nervous.

"Guys chill. You guys totally aced it," Mal comforted as he followed them up the corridor towards the stage.

"Thanks Mal. It was awesome to meet you by the way," Tina smiled as they moved into the wings to take their places on stage.

"It was nice to meet all you guys too. It's a shame I'm moving to California now because I bet it would be awesome to stick around with you guys. But you never know, if Cali doesn't treat me too well I can always move back," Mal shrugged.

"We'll be waiting man. You'd better visit sometime." Artie said as he stopped beside Mal for a moment, giving him a sideways hug over their wheels before brofisting and having to take his place on the stage.

"Thanks for coming," Blaine said.

"Like I'd miss this," Mal smirked. "Now _GO._ Get on that stage and grab your trophy already," he teased, pushng the laughing Blaine towards the stage.

Once everyone was assembled on the stage in their choir groups the curtains raised to a smattering applause and the host walked out with an envelope in hand.

"Welcome back!" he called, holding a mic to his mouth to be heard in the grand auditorium. "As you know, the judges have been given the hard task of choosing a winner, and myself the job of announcing them! So, without further ado, let's get going!"

He fumbled with the third place envelope for a moment before holding up his mic again.

"And in third place is the valiant Eastbarrow Prep!" he called as someone quickly moved onto the stage and handed them a small trophy as the audience clapped their commiserations.

"But in first place..." the host said, a drum roll sounding behind him for effect as he opened the first place envelope.

"It's a tie! Both McKinley High's New Directions and Dalton Academy's Warblers will be moving on to Regionals! Congratulations!"


	14. New York: The Adventures Begin

**A/N: First a huge THANK YOU to Nat at 'raspberrytwists' for the review! I'm so glad you're enjoying my story!**

**I keep feeling really bad that I sorta have a plan for when Blaine's backstory and the 'Kurt Fiasco' (I can't remember if I've called it that in the past or not so if not then, well, spoilers) are going to be revealed and it's probably gonna be right after Regionals which sucks because I know a load of people just wanna know already! I promise his whole story will be very in-depth and hopefully in your views worth the wait when it goes up and oh god Regionals is gonna be such a busy chapter (I kinda ended up writing most of it already even though it's quite a way off from the current point in the story and it gets heated and shouty and aaahh that's enough spoilers!)**

**Either way, I really hope you guys are enjoying this and for the next chapter, there are warnings of fangirling Santana, nerf gun fights, trolling Santana and innuendos. my bad :P Oh yeah! and NEW YORK CITY BABY!**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

"Oh my god next week is going to be so much fun!" Santana squealed, flinging her arms around Blaine's neck.

"I'll take it that's a yes you can come?" Blaine laughed, lifting her off the ground in their hug.

"Yes! And Sue even _wants_ me to go! She said I have to spy on a couple of schools that're going to be our rivals for this year's cheerleading competition so practically encouraged me to go. She's gonna cover me in classes and put it down as authorized absence and even go nice on me for missing Cheerios as it's the last week before the holidays start anyway and gah! I'm just super excited! I feel like a twelve year old but I don't even care! I'm going to New York and LA in the same week!" she reeled happily.

"It's going to be awesome!" Blaine smiled. "It's going to be crazy as hell, but so, _so_ worth it."

"I so cannot wait. I'm gonna have to pack like, tonight because if I leave it to tomorrow that's just like, the day before and then I'll pick all the wrong things."

"You do realise we'll go shopping whilst we're out there?" Blaine smirked, having attended one of these mental vacations before this time last year. He'd only been at Dalton a month and was immediately kidnapped into going with them. They turned up at his house very early in the morning, talked Michelle into letting him go, packed his things for him, _then_ woke him up by jumping on his bed. He rather hoped they would use a different tactic this time around.

"Shopping in New York! This is actually going to be amazing. Thank you so _so _much for bringing me with you Blaine." Santana gushed. Blaine had never seen Santana so... girly? She always held her composure, her HBIC title, her snarky remarks were always at the ready. He'd never seen her so much like the old Casey. She was always gushing like this, ever over-excitable. It was both odd and comforting to see Santana like this. To know that under her façade there was still a gushing schoolgirl in there somewhere.

"Although, please tell me you know how to use a nerf gun?"

* * *

"Oh so you do know how to give people advance warnings" Blaine laughed over the phone to the twins.

"_Of course we do! It's just much less fun that way. Anyway we'll be round at your place for half past 12 tomorrow. Be ready else we'll drag you away in whatever state you're in." _the twins said. Blaine was unable to tell which of them it was over the phone so just presumed it was one of them to make it easier. "_Also, we can either get Santana from her place after we grab you, __**or**__ pick her up from yours. Depends on how far her house if from your new place."_

"I think she'd rather you didn't know where she lives. God knows what you'd do with that information." Blaine sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'll tell her to be at mine for just before then."

"_Great! We'll see you tomorrow! Be prepared!"_

"Does that mean I'm going to need to bring my nerf gun to the door with me when I let you in?" Blaine asked.

"_Only if you want a fight on your doorstep,"_ one of the twins said, the shrug obvious though he couldn't see them.

"I'm not entirely sure I trust you two to **not** start a fight on my doorstep regardless but fine. I will see you tomorrow," Blaine laughed.

"_BYE BLAINERS!" _the pair chorused.

"Goodbye Fred and George" Blaine laughed, shaking his head as he hung up.

* * *

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Santana gawped out Blaine's front window.

"Nope. This is their idea of subtle." Blaine sighed as he dragged her from the view of outside towards their luggage that was waiting just inside the front door.

"Subtle? Seriously?" she asked incredulous as she stumbled back into life and grabbed the handle of her suitcase.

"There's a reason these guys are well known for being insane. I'm afraid you'll have to get used to it this week," he laughed as he grabbed his own case, throwing a carry-on rucksack over his shoulder.

"But... that's a _Limo_ Blaine. A real stretch limo," she practically squealed.

"Be glad they didn't bring the Hummer," Blaine laughed as they headed for the front door.

"They have a stretch Hummer?" Santana asked slack jawed.

"Dalton is full of 'privileged' kids San. The Hartman twins are just the start. Although, they are the ones most likely to go overboard on things," Blaine explained as he reached out and grabbed a large nerf gun from where he'd left it waiting by the door. He braced himself, aiming the foam gun at the door before opening it and immediately firing, catching the twins off guard and getting in at least three good hits before they sprung into action and shot back with their own foam bullets.

"Blaine!" Santana called from behind him, shielding herself with her arms as the twins laughed.

"Sorry San," Blaine laughed, trying to shield her as he managed to shoot Ethan right in the forehead just as Evan managed to land his own hit on Blaine's neck.

"Oh c'mon. Gimme that," she laughed, stealing the gun from Blaine's hands and immediately getting Evan right in his open laughing mouth. Ethan looked to his twin in shock, his own mouth falling open before it was promptly filled by another shot from Santana.

"Wow. You've gotta teach me that," Blaine laughed as he looked over to Santana beside him who was pretending to blow smoke from the end of the gun, 007 style. "Quickest they've ever shut up,"

"Hey!" complained Ethan who'd pulled the foam bullet from his mouth. His twin was slower to react.

"She's good," was all he said, his twin nodding eagerly.

"You do realise you've probably just gotten yourself into more than your fair share of foam battles," Blaine smiled approvingly.

"These guys are gonna have to get used to loosing them then," Santana smirked proudly.

"Wow."  
"We need her on our team,"  
"We do," the twins confirmed to each other quickly, causing Santana to laugh again.

"What says I'll take your side?" she asked. "Who says I won't team with Blaine?"

"Pfft. Blaine's usually rubbish," Evan waved away as he collected some of his ammo from the garden path.

"Gee, thanks guys." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Blaine, she's like a Night Fury! She probably _never_ misses," Ethan explained giddily.

"Damn straight," Santana approved causing Blaine to laugh.

"Well if you're done with the gun fights for now, can we go? I believe we were meant to catch a plane," Blaine asked,

"It's not like we can miss it," Evan shrugged as he and his brother grabbed Blaine and Santana's suitcases, helping to shove them into the boot of the limousine.

"Why?" Santana asked as Blaine opened the passenger door for her and she slid inside.

"It's Wes's family's private jet." Blaine smiled, letting his own excitement finally seep through as she slid in beside her all pretence of cool slipping away.

"Wow." She mumbled to herself at both the revelation and the interior of the long black limousine.

"I know," Blaine grinned.

* * *

Santana spent the first 20 minutes straight just marvelling at the interior of the limousine, gawping at it at first before slowly sinking to lean into Blaine's side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she settled happily there, not paying any attention to anything the boys were chatting about. Both twins raised an identical eyebrow at the couple's closeness and Blaine gave them a bored look.

"Oh shut up," he said though they'd gone quiet.

"Aww, where's the Blainey we know gone?" complained Ethan, pulling a pout as his twin struggled to hold back his huge grin.

"Probably taken hostage by the '_girlfriend'_ or something," Evan offered. Blaine gave them a glare and his middle finger, setting the two into fits of laughter and rolling about in their seats. Blaine raised an eyebrow in a wordless '_really?_' expression as Evan managed to roll right off his chair as the limo pulled up at a set of lights, the braking sending him rolling down the small floor space.

"Wow." Santana said, midway between sarcasm and genuine surprise, clearly snapping out of her dreamy trance at the sight of a seventeen-year-old boy rolling about the floor as he laughed. "I've never seen anyone _literally_ roll on the floor laughing. Congratulations,"

"Oh she's awake!"  
"Hi Santana," the twins chorused happily, still laughing slightly though Evan did at least pick himself up and sit back down on a seat before they pulled away from the lights.  
"We were just laughing at your dear boyfriend," Ethan added.

"Do I even want to know or...?" Santana asked, looking up at Blaine whose glare was only just lessening, softening to a small, bemused smile as he looked back at Santana.

"Probably not," he laughed slightly.

"Hey! Who wants a drink?" asked Ethan as he quickly rolled head over heels down the floor space and popped open a mini-fridge.

"Are you serious? You have a mini-fridge full of WKD's?" asked Santana.

"We're never knowingly serious," Evan said proudly as his twin rooted around and grabbed a bottle opener.

"You two are _so_ not having any. I can barely deal with you sober sometimes, let alone drunk. God, the events of April 26th will forever be burned into my brain as a warning to never be in a room with the drunken Hartman twins," Blaine groaned.

"Hey! We swore never to mention April 26th's events again Blaine," complained Ethan.

"No, _you_ swore never to bring it up to save yourselves the embarrassment. _I_ just generally avoid thinking about it. I'm still not even sure that poor Beagle ever recovered."

"He loved us,"

"He was terrified of you!" Blaine countered. "With the outfits you two wore-"

"-How about we forgo the alcohol for the sake of saving everyone's minds and egos? Yes?" Santana offered, sitting upright.

"Please?" Blaine laughed thankfully.

"I'm still having one of those though," Santana said, reaching forward and grabbing the bottle Ethan was holding and popping it open.

"How come she's allowed then?" complained Evan childishly.

"April 26th. It's all I'm going to say," Blaine said.

"Plus I can hold my liquor." Santana shrugged as she sipped the blue liquid.

"I sense a drinking competition," Evan smiled mischievously.

"Oh dear god no," Blaine groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

* * *

"Am I likely to stop being amazed this week?" Santana asked as she flopped happily backwards onto the large double bed, bouncing on the mattress and sighing happily at the sight of the tastefully decorated room.

"I doubt it. By the time you're getting used to New York we'll be off again to Los Angeles and then there'll be more to freak out over," Blaine laughed, dumping his own bag by the foot of a large ornately detailed wardrobe and jumping onto the bed too.

"How come you haven't turned into a twelve year old girl right now then?" she asked, looking up at him where he'd sat by her shoulder.

"Oh believe me, my internal monologue is screaming all sorts of girly childish things," Blaine laughed, flopping backwards and revelling in the thick soft mattress himself. "I've just learnt the more the twins see you freaking out the more they pounce on you. I doubt they'll pounce on you though, except maybe with the odd nerf gun after our earlier fight,"

"How come? They look so eager to constantly cause trouble," Santana asked, rolling onto her front and propping her head on her hands. Blaine pushed himself up slightly on his elbows to look at her as he answered.

"Cause I told them to leave you alone and if they didn't you'd go all Lima Heights on their asses." Blaine smirked making Santana laugh.

"Wow, and they're actually scared of that?"

"Yup. They've only met one other person from Lima Heights and they were a total bitch and somehow managed to intimidate those two maniacs across the hall. She pulled out all the stops and generally kicked their asses into line. They'll never admit it happened but it did and at the mention of Lima Heights I swear I heard Evan mutter under his breath some sort of prayer." Blaine explained happily, so glad that his friends did actually had a weakness somewhere.

"I'm so remembering that for later." Santana smirked mischievously.

"Oh good. I think it might some in handy. We're proabbly gonna be dragged out shopping or something in a while before the twins drag us out to the club."

"Club?"

"Yeah, the twins parents own several. There's one out here that's actually pretty nearby that's for basically underage kids like us. It's like 15 to 19's or something and usually around this time it's full of Warblers and their dates. The odd model, sometimes famous faces even turn up. It's actually pretty fun once you get past how mad it all is," Blaine laughed, remembering the time last year the twins had dragged everyone out to the club that they'd had decorated to look like Wonka's chocolate factory. Talk about in at the deep end...

"Oh well if we're going out shopping we're so buying you something better to wear." Santana smirked, sitting upright.

"Hey, what's wrong with what I wear?" Blaine complained, pouting and sitting upright too. Sure most of his wardrobe was jeans, polo shirts, screen printed tees, sweaters and hoodies, but he just wasn't that fussed about what he wore anymore. He'd cared a lot when he was back at CH with his friends but he knew in a place like McKinley he'd get the same treatment for how he'd dressed. There was no way he could risk it here without people suspecting he wasn't actually who he acted like.

"Blaine honey, you look like every other bland teenage boy. Your clothes do nothing to show off any of your attributes that even _I_ can vouch for and it's _New York_. You've gotta step it up a notch else nobody in that club's gonna notice you,"

"Who says I want people to notice me?" Blaine asked, picking at a loose thread on his jeans.

"Blaine. It's not like these guys don't _know_ you. I'm pretty sure those maniac twins will try and set you up with someone. I'm fairly certain they already know this-" Santana gestured to the pair of them "-is an act, at least on your part."

"I... yeah I just... I don't know that I can put myself out there like that. I'm confident in who I am, but I'm just not confident in telling people." Blaine sighed.

"Blaine it's okay." Santana said softly, placing a hand over Blaine's on the bed and stilling it from fussing over the loose thread. "I know I'm hardly one to talk when I'm still not sure if I'm technically a lesbian or bi or whatever, but I still think you should have your fun. It's practically Christmas, we're in New York freaking City and there's bound to be plenty of guys in that club that think you're a cute, adorkable goofball. This holiday is our perfect excuse to go crazy and break some rules or something,"

"How crazy? Because whatever you're thinking double the crazy and add a good dollop of insanity and you probably have Evan and Ethan's plans," Blaine laughed.

"Well first, I have a plan to awkward the hell out of those boys," Santana smirked, pointing her thumb back over her shoulder towards the door to the hall.

Each boy had their own large room that lead onto the even larger sitting room and open plan living space, including kitchen, dining room, games room and a large indoor hot tub that was in a room off to one side. Once shotgun had been called on the rooms, each Ridgeway boy had run to their chosen room and dumped their stuff and were currently unpacking/saving up their energy for the impending night of madness the Hartmans had planned/sitting in each other's rooms chatting and chilling. Santana had connected and had quite a few laughs with each of the boys on the plane flight over -after first being amazed at the luxury of the jet- talking mostly to Trent about being sassy and a HBIC and Nick about her cheerleading as his older sister was a cheerleader for several years until she graduated two years back.

"Plans involving?" Blaine asked, lifting an eyebrow slightly in interest.

"If anyone knocks on the door," Santana smirked, speaking quietly. "We pretend we've just been heavily making out and feign annoyance at being interrupted. They all know you're as straight as Nick and Jeff so I wanna mess with their heads,"

"Oh so we're not going to actually make out?" Blaine asked, putting on a small pout that made Santana laugh. "Hey, you said I was good at it."

"That you are," Santana laughed, leaning forwards and pressing a chaste kiss to his pouting lips, feeling him smirk victoriously into their kiss.

"Blaine?" called a voice from outside their door as someone knocked twice on the ornate wood.

"Time to put our plan into action," Santana whispered into Blaine's ear. "Just a second!" she called to the door before pressed her lips back to Blaine's and got to work fast. She ran her hands through Blaine's ungelled hair, causing it to stick up a little in odd places before tugging at the hem of Blaine's button up shirt, rumpling it slightly and untucking the back edge.

"Now this is what I call a plan," Blaine whispered as he caught on. He copied Santana's actions, running his own hands through her soft long hair and rumpling her shirt in his fingers, giving them both a look that said they'd been passionately making out for a lot longer than a few moments.

"Breathe heavy and hide your crotch behind the door when you open it like you're hiding a boner," Santana whispered in Blaine's ear, her warm breath sending a small shiver down Blaine's spine.

"Like I need to pretend to breathe heavily," Blaine laughed breathlessly, his heart beating a mile a minute. Santana just laughed.

"Go lover boy," she smirked, pushing him gently off the bed and towards to door. He got up and looked at his reflection in the large vanity and held back a laugh at the state of himself and Santana, before opening the door as Santana had described.

"Trent? Hi," Blaine said a little surprised, a little out of breath. _Perfect_ thought Santana. _It's like he's a natural at this sort of thing._

"Hey," Trent replied, taking in his appearance quickly with wide surprised eyes. "Um, Dean, Arthur, Nick and myself were planning on leaving to go shopping in about half an hour. You up for it... or have I interrupted something?"

"It's cool, uh, let me just see if San wants to go too." Blaine said, keeping in character before turning back into the room. "San? Some of the boys wanna go shopping. You interested?"

"Of course." She smirked, her voice slightly lower and rough before. "How long before we leave?"

"'Bout half and hour," Blaine explained.

"Perfect. Half an hour it is,"

"Sure, we'll go with you," Blaine said as he turned again to face the Ridgeway boy. "We should be ready in half an hour then,"

"Or just over," Santana called playfully from where she still sat on the bed, just in sight of the door. Blaine couldn't help but blush beetroot at what she was insinuating and even Trent turned a faint pink at the comment.

"I uh, I'll leave you to it till then I guess," he said awkwardly.

"Sure," Blaine smiled rather embarrassed as Trent gave them a final awkward nod and smile before leaving for his own room. Blaine closed the door and leant back against it, letting out a deep breath as Santana burst into a stifled fit of giggles.

"That was so much fun!" she said, trying not to be loud enough that her voice would carry through the walls, though she needn't have worried as they were pretty thick.

"Oh god I think I just died," Blaine laughed. "That was so awkward,"

"My pleasure," Santana smirked as Blaine got up off the floor. "We're definitely doing that again at some point. At least, some point before the penny drops for them, but I'm hoping it'll last a while so we can continue doing that."

"Continue scaring the crap out of Trent because he thought he'd interrupted something major?"

"Well I was hoping it would be the twins if I'm honest." Santana laughed. "I would _so_ like to see how they react to something like _that_,"

"Oh god," Blaine laughed, burying his head in his hands as he cheeks flared red.

* * *

**Also really sorry for the wait guys, I had to cram like crazy for my As Spanish Speaking exam this week and it was HELL so I didn't get any time to write until now  
**

**ANYWAY! Trolling Santana - What're your reactions? Please go drop a comment on it, I'm having so much fun writing it but if you guys don't really like it much I'll probably stop and ease up a little on the Blaintana**


	15. New York: Not in Ohio Anymore

**A/N: Ah! Big thank you's to **_xXxDracoAddictxXx, gleek101, JenScott, raspberrytwists** and my dear** Charmedmich_** for the reviews! Hopefully there's somethng for all of your suggestions in this as there's more Santana, Blaine trolling this time, Blaintana friendship and even hints at Klaine? I'd love to see what you make of it!**

* * *

**Chapter 15: New York part 2**

_*-Messages -*  
*- Compose New Message -*  
_

_You__:- Neither you nor Santana seem to be answering your phones and you both didn't turn up to the Sectionals Afterparty today. Where the hell are you two?_

_Blaine Anderson__:- I'm guessing this is Kurt seeing as you're the only person in ND whose number I don't have_

_Your Reply__:- Yes it's Kurt, now would you answer the question? Rachel's whining to me about it and I need an answer to shut her up._

_Blaine Anderson__:- I do not envy you there. Also didn't know there was an afterparty so sorry bout that I guess._

_Your Reply__:- You're avoiding the question._

_Blaine Anderson__:- Because I don't know my exact whereabouts as of this moment_

_Your Reply__:- How can you not know?_

_Blaine Anderson__:- Because I don't know the street names okay? I just remember the routes to get to some places_

_Your Reply__:- How long have you lived in Lima that you don't bother to learn the street names?_

_Blaine Anderson__:- 16 years and 11 months and I do know Lima's street names. Like the back of my hand actually_

_Your Reply__:- So that means you're **not** in Lima then? Progress._

_Blaine Anderson__:- Indeed. I am no longer in Lima, Ohio._

_Your Reply__:- From your last reply I'm almost tempted to ask if there's a Lima, someplace-that's-not-Ohio that exists but I'm not actually that stupid._

_Blaine Anderson__:- See, you said 'almost' yet you still typed it out anyway._

_Your Reply__:- Give up the games Blaine and tell me where the two of you are._

_Blaine Anderson__:- Well, when I get the chance to find a street name, I'll tell you._

_Your Reply__:- God give me strength._

_Blaine Anderson__:- You're an atheist Kurt. God won't give you any strength if you don't believe in him_

_Your Reply__:- Really? You're going to use that against me instead of telling me where you are?_

_Blaine Anderson__:- Well luckily for you I know where I am now. Unluckily, Santana's trying to steal my phone to take a photo of us._

_Your Reply__:- Seriously? You're just gonna tell me you know where you are and leave it at that?_

_Your Reply__:- This really isn't funny Blaine. Rachel is still complaining to me. It's been practically an hour since I started trying to get this out of you._

_Your Reply__:- I am very much tempted to tell Rachel you've flown out to California to become a stripper just to see how she reacts._

_Blaine Anderson__:- But that's not true, I don't start my job over there till Wednesday_

_Your Reply__:- Ha. Ha. Ha._

_Blaine Anderson__:- Well someone's cheerful. If she's being that much of a pain why don't you just kick her out of your house or leave her's or whatever, and just go to bed. It's getting dark anyway._

_Your Reply__:- Uh, no it's not. Blaine, it's only 8 o'clock._

_Blaine Anderson__:- Well they have all the lights on here so it makes it feel darker._

_Your Reply__:- And 'here' would be?_

_Blaine Anderson__:- The intersection of 7th Avenue and West 47th street apparently._

_Your Reply__:- That sounds like New York City._

_Your Reply__:- Why in the **HELL** are you in Times Square?_

_Blaine Anderson__:- Do you just know the address for Times Square off by heart or did you Google it?_

_Your Reply__:- Does it matter? What the HELL are you two doing in New York?_

_Your Reply__:- Oh don't you dare not reply now! Rachel is screaming at me and this is entirely your fault!_

_Blaine Anderson__:- Pah! Serves you right for hanging out with her!_

_Blaine Anderson__:- I bet she's totally a bitch at the weekends!_

"Did he seriously just say that?" Rachel asked outraged as she read over Kurt's shoulder from beside him on his bed, her mouth falling open.

"Oh to hell with this, I'm ringing him. And he'd better pick up. If he's got the time to text he can damn well pick up his phone." A very annoyed Kurt said as he tapped at his phone.

_*- Outgoing Call to Blaine Anderson -*  
*- Speaker mode is On-*_

"What in the hell are you doing in New York City Blaine?" Kurt asked rather angrily.

"_Blaine's kinda busy right now!" _ Called a chipper but slightly breathless voice over the speakers. It was most definitely not Blaine but whoever it was, was clearly running.

"Uh, who is this then?" asked Rachel.

"_Nobody! Just a friend. Hey no! You can't have it back! Hahaaa!"_

"_Give it back Evan!" _that was Blaine's voice from fairly nearby. _That would hopefully explain the last two texts _Kurt thought.

"_I haven't got it. I'm over here Blaine!" _called an identical voice that was quieter than the first, clearly from further away from the cell phone mic.

"_Fine, Ethan then, give me back my cell phone." _Blaine said angrily, his tone tight and patience clearly wearing thin.

"_Nu-uh! You'll have to come and get it!" _the boy who was apparently named Ethan called happily.

"_Give it to Blaine or so help me I will go all Lima Heights Adjacent on yo' ass Tweedle-derpface"_ Santana's voice said sternly from somewhere nearby.

"_Blaine! Take it! Take your cell!" _called 'Ethan' in a panic as Kurt and Rachel exchanged an amused glance. _"Don't let your girlfriend kill me!"_

"_I wasn't planning on __**killing**__ you" _Santana drawled smugly from nearby, closer than before as the cell was clearly handed back to Blaine. _"Just... maybe kick your asses in a nerf gun fight after stealing all of your weaponry. Force you to wear some of my summer dresses for a couple days around the city."_

"_Seriously guys, you two can be right dicks," _Blaine complained before obviously holding the cell to his ear as his voice became clearer. _"__**Anyway**__, hello. Sorry about that, these two idiots just ran an entire block with my cell phone. No doubt they texted you something before you rang."_

"Oh just that I'm a bitch on the weekend and that Kurt's basically asking for me to annoy him by hanging out with me out of school," Rachel complained, crossing her arms across her chest in a huff.

"_Ethan!" _Blaine called angrily to be met with a large round of laughter from several voices nearby. _"Sorry. To give them credit they __**are**__ known for worse,"_

"_You dare mention April 26__th__ one more time there'll be hell to pay Blaine Anderson!"  
"We'll put superglue in your hair gel!"_

"_I don't wear hair gel anymore __**suckers**__!" _Blaine retorted, earning laughs from around him. _"Anyway, d'you mind if I call you back later, I fear the twins and their sneaky tactics,"_

"I guess so." Rachel said as nonchalantly as she could manage.

"_Cheers guys. Sorry we missed the after party too. I didn't realise we would have one,"_

"_I did," _Santana added from nearby. _"No way you'll catch me in a room with Rachel Berry at the weekend,"_

"_San," _Blaine scolded though he was laughing. _"We'll call you later,"_

"_There should be no 'we' in that statement." _Santana teased

"Whatever," Kurt said, rolling his eyes a little in annoyance. "We'll talk later,"

"_Goodbye Ohio," _Blaine laughed.

"What in the hell is going on?" Rachel asked after Kurt had hung up.

"You've got as good an idea as I do," Kurt sighed, dropping his phone onto his bed and flopping back against the pillows. "All we know is they're in New York City and were in Times Square. Something that despite myself I am deeply jealous of."

* * *

"You are such a troll," Santana laughed.

"Huh?" Blaine asked as he pulled one of his new polo shirts over his head and sticking his arms through the short sleeves. He looked over at her where she lay on the bed, his cell phone in her hand as she laid back against the pillows.

"Your texts to Hummel. You are such an ass in these texts," Santana laughed as she scrolled through them all.

"Well I'm allowed to be an ass to him. He clearly doesn't acknowledge my existence unless forced to," Blaine shrugged as he pulled out the tightly fitting maroon cardigan Santana had picked out for this ensemble when she'd insisted she be allowed to pick his outfit for the club.  
"What's that look for?" he asked as he looked back up at her, pausing with only one arm in the cardigan's sleeves.

"Nothing just..." she said, not meeting his gaze and deliberately staring intently at the bed sheets. "There's been a couple of moments when I've seen him... looking at you like... I don't know. Who am I to read peoples emotions properly but... he definitely looked like he cared. A lot."

"You've gotta be kidding me. _Kurt_? Giving a shit about _me_? Tell me, we are both talking about the same boy right?" Blaine snorted as he pulled the cardigan on fully.

"Blaine," Santana sighed, looking up at him apologetically. He slunk over to the bed and flopped backwards onto it, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Look, if he gave a shit about me then maybe he would've actually acted like it by now. I've been at McKinley for practically five months now. He's had many a chance to apologize or even just acknowledge my existence before I joined Glee. He never talks to me in Glee unless he has to like when we were paired for duets. He barely looks at me unless he can help it. Are you really sure he gives a shit about me, even in the slightest?" Blaine said angrily.

"Sit up," Santana said after a moment, abruptly changing the subject.

"Huh?" he asked ineloquently, opening his eyes and looking upwards to see Santana kneeling on the bed, large pillow in hand.

"C'mon, up." She said. Blaine sighed and pulled himself into a sitting positing and twisting himself round to face her.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she held the pillow out in front of her.

"Creating a makeshift punch bag." She said as if it were obvious.

"I'm not punching that San," Blaine sighed, waving it away as he flopped back into the pillows.

"Why?" she asked, dropping the pillow into her lap.

"Because I don't want to come anywhere near accidentally punching you." he said in a small voice that tore at Santana's well protected heart.

"Blaine..."

"I've seen enough damage done to the people I care about. I won't cause any more of it," Blaine said.

"Oh Blaine." She sighed. "You won't."

"I get intense and lost to the world when I'm boxing. I don't want to hurt you because I'm... too focused or som- hey!" he complained as the pillow was thrown into his face. Santana smirked proudly at her aim as Blaine sat upright. "Oh so that's how it's gonna be huh?" Blaine teased, grabbing a pillow himself and hitting her over the head with it.

"Hey!" she laughed as she tried to squirm out of pillow range.

"You started it!" Blaine chuckled as she reached for another pillow.

* * *

"It's gone eleven o'clock Rach. We aren't gonna get a call from them." Kurt sighed as he glanced at the digital alarm clock by his bedside table as they sat together on his bed, popcorn bowl between them as they watched Funny Girl on Kurt's small bedroom TV.

"Well it would've been nice to get a text or something," Rachel huffed, grabbing another handful of popcorn and throwing a piece with perfect aim into her mouth. Kurt checked his phone for the umpteenth time that night, just wanting some sort of news about New York, jealous as hell that Blaine and Santana were there and he was stuck here still in Lima, Ohio. He was fairly certain he recognised those identical voices form the phone call. They were Blaine's friends for sure, Kurt had an image of two blonde figures around Blaine's height that had run up and jumped him after it'd been declared that they'd drawn just yesterday at Sectionals. They were Dalton boys and hadn't been the only ones to hug Blaine. But they'd been the quickest to pounce on him and had screamed happily at him that he'd been awesome and they were so excited to be duelling again and so on.

Rachel asked Kurt something softly then, snapping him from his thoughts as she looked up at him from where her head rested gently on his chest.

"Hm?" he asked, shaking his head slightly to clear out of the memories of navy blazered boys with blonde hair almost knocking Blaine to the ground. He threw his phone -which still told him he had no messages- towards the end of the bed, watching it bounce on the mattress sheets.

"I asked what's up? You've been distant and just... _off_ ever since the phone call. What's wrong?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing I'm just... I keep thinking of those two having fun in New York and I want to be there, you know? I want to be out there, visiting everywhere on Broadway, having breakfast at Tiffany's, coffee in Central Park. I want to be in New York already and I hate that it'll be at least another year before I might get into a performing arts college there." Kurt said though it was only part of the truth.

"Kurt, we'll be there before then. Nationals are in New York this year and we can totally make it. We've still got practically a month before we need to prepare because the holidays start in just a week and even with that we'll still get through Regionals." Rachel comforted.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just jealous that he got there first," Kurt laughed a little, forcing a smile on his face as he grabbed more popcorn. That seemed enough for Rachel and she returned her attention to the film, mouthing along the words that she knew off by heart to the currently playing scene. It allowed Kurt's mind to wonder, wonder specifically towards the boy in New York City.

_How can I not know about Blaine's friends and how they must have connections in New York?_

_That's a stupid question Kurt, you know why. Because you don't ever talk to Blaine._ His mind supplied.

_But like, how can he be so... different? I used to know him like the back of my hand and yet here I am, wondering hopelessly what he's doing, if he's having fun, who he's with, who he's even friends with nowadays... will I ever get my old Blaine back?_

_Geez Kurt, he was never 'your Blaine'. _His mind rebuked. _Just because he used to follow you around like a puppy doesn't make him __**yours**__. It just means he put up with your crap when others didn't. And you threw it all away. Threw it away like you threw it all in his face that day. How could you let someone like him slip through your fingers?_

_It was 5__th__ grade.  
__Fifth. Grade.__  
A lot has changed since then._

_Yeah, mainly **him**._

* * *

**A/N: SO! What do you think guys? Leave a review pleaseeee! It really really helps! xxx  
**

**ALSO - Next Chapter - Night Club Shenanigans!**_  
_


	16. New York: Pounding Head & Hearts

**A/N: HUGE thank you's to my wonderful** **reviewers;** _xXxDracoAddictxXx, AshtrayTragedyM.D, gleek101 and Charmedmich_. **I love you all for reviewing an****d I'm always listening to what you guys say because it helps me write a story you guys are actually gonna enjoy. **AshtrayTragedyM.D** You're totally right, so often Blaine just loses who he is in becoming Kurt's boyfriend and I really enjoy writing them as two separate entities in this story because I feel like makes them both stronger individuals. For **xXxDracoAddictxXx** there's a tiny spoiler in the bottom of this chapter on what Kurt may or may not have done so please anyone leave theories in the reviews. **gleek101** of course I acknowledge anon reviews! I love any reviews and the fact you took the time to write not just that you're reading but your opinions is absolutely amazing in my eyes. And me too on the Santana front, I like writing a softer side to her and in this one she gets a little bit motherly right at the end which I just loved writing. I kinda think that's she treats/will treat (when they date) Britt.** **And my dear **Charmedmich** I promise it's getting there! Klaine is my endgame and I promise it'll get there, these boys just have a lot to sort through between them and for once in this story I'm setting Blaine up to have some awesome fun in NYC baby!**

* * *

**Chapter 16: New York part 3 - Clubbing  
**

"Hey Blaine," said Evan as he appeared at Blaine's elbow.

"Oh, hey," Blaine laughed, surprised to have been found in the mass of people in the club. Then again, he remembered this was one of the Hartman twins.

"So, we're doing open mic night for anyone who wants to take the stage and we're dragging you up there." he smiled mischievously as he grabbed Blaine by the arm.

"What? Ethan," he whined.

"Nope, the other one." The blonde laughed.

"Well it's hard to tell in the dark okay? And c'mon really?"

"Yes. And it has to be now because soon you'll be way too drunk to even stand," reasoned Evan.

"I hate you two," Blaine scowled but let himself be dragged along towards the DJ.

"Hey man," the DJ smiled at him. "Name's James. Know what song they're making you sing?"

"Nope." Blaine sighed. "What tracks you got for karaoke?"

"Shit-loads." DJ James laughed, pulling out an ipod. "Pick anything off here,"

Blaine sighed and scrolled through the playlist, sweeping swiftly past some of the cheesier ones and the hard-core club albums. Finally he settled on a song and showed James.

"Awesome man. Two seconds, this song's nearly over. Let me grab you a microphone," James smiled, rooting around the large sound system and finally pulling out a mic just as the song began to end.

"Alright guys! We got a load of them Warblers in da house tonight!" James called into his own mic, riling up the crowd who cheered loudly and screamed as they dance on the packed out dance floor.  
"Well we got a live performance coming up right now from ex-Warbler Blaine Anderson! Let's give it up!"

The crowd cheered loudly and Blaine laughed as the music began. The twins - who'd regrouped somehow through the dense crowd - jumped and screamed excitedly as they recognised the song, grabbing all current Warblers that were close by and pulling them into a formation to dance together. By the time Blaine held the mic to his mouth to sing the first line all of the boys were in formation, breaking out into a perfectly synchronized dance that was nothing like the pretty much patented Warbler two-step.

"_You got me so wild,  
How can I ever deny,  
You got me so high,  
So high I cannot feel the fire.  
And you keep telling me,  
Telling me that you'll be sweet,  
And you'll never want to leave my side,_

_As long as I don't break these...  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself._

By this point the whole dance floor was trying to copy the moves of the boys before them, everyone on the floor moving in time to the boy's slow techno dancing.

_You got me so wild,  
Why should I be so surprised?  
You got me so high,  
Don't you see it in my eyes?  
And you keep telling me,  
Telling me that you'll be sweet,  
And you'll never want to leave my side,_

_As long as I don't break these...  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself._

_They are so wasted on myself...  
They are so wasted on myself...  
They are so wasted on myself...  
They are so wasted on myself..._

_They are so wasted on myself...  
They are so wasted on myself...  
They are so wasted on myself...  
They are so wasted on myself..._

_Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself.  
Promises  
And they still feel all so wasted on myself._

The song ended with a cheer as everyone broke from their dance, the Warbler boys hugging each other and whooping loudly at Blaine from their place on the floor, causing Blaine to blush a little but wave back.

_I've just sung to a packed out club in New York City._ Blaine thought giddily. _This __**is **__totally awesome._

"Encore!" called a girl in the crowd. She was then seconded by another girl beside her, then by another whose voice Blaine recognized to be Santana. He laughed and waved them away, going to give the mic back to James but he held up his hands.

"Nope. Twins told me I had to line up this one next just for you." he laughed as he flicked a switch on the decks and a new song began playing. Blaine almost groaned as he recognised it instantly, rolling his eyes and glaring at the twins who were jumping up and down happily as the crowd started dancing happily again. Blaine caved, giving in to one of his favourite songs from his Dalton days and bringing the mic to his lips once more.

_"Right, right, turn off the lights,  
We gonna lose our minds tonight  
What's the dealio?  
I love when it's all too much  
5 AM turn the radio up  
Where's the rock and roll?"_

Blaine gave in to the music and started dancing along a little, rocking with the beat.

_"Party crasher, panty snatcha'  
Call me up if you are gangsta'  
Don't be fancy, just get dancey"_

_"Why so serious?" _He asked the crowd, pulling a stupid frowny face that had the girls near the front in fits of giggles.

_"So raise your glass if you are wrong  
In all the right ways  
All my underdogs, we will never be, never be  
Anything but loud  
And nitty-gritty, dirty little freaks  
Won't you come on, and come on, and  
Raise your glass  
Just come on and come and  
Raise Your Glass!_

_Slam, slam. Oh hot damn  
What part of party don't you understand?  
Wish you'd just freak out  
Can't stop coming in hot  
I should be locked up right on the spot  
It's so on right now_

_Party crasher, panty snatcha'  
Call me up if you a gangsta'  
Don't be fancy, just get dancey_

_Why so serious? _

_So raise your glass if you are wrong  
In all the right ways  
All my underdogs, we will never be, never be  
Anything but loud  
And nitty gritty dirty little freaks  
Won't you come on, and come on, and  
Raise your glass  
Just come on and come and  
Raise Your Glass!  
Just come on and come on and  
Raise your glass!  
Just come on and come and  
Raise your glass!"_

_"My glass is empty...that sucks!" _Blaine laughed, holding up his empty hands that had earlier held a drink. Blaine then spotted Jon in the crowd and beckoned him forwards. He leapt up to Blaine's side and started beat-boxing into the spare mic James handed him.

_"So if you're too school for cool  
And you're treated like a fool  
You could choose to let it go  
We can always, we can always  
Party on our own..._

_So raise your  
So raise your glass if you are wrong  
In all the right ways  
All my underdogs, we will never be, never be  
Anything but loud  
And nitty gritty dirty little freaks  
So raise your glass if you are wrong  
In all the right ways  
All my underdogs, we will never be never be!  
Anything but loud  
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks  
Won't you come on! And come on! And  
Raise your glass!  
Just come on and come and  
Raise your glass!"  
_At this point, the entire club held their hands in the air, glasses, bottles and empty punched fists in the air alike.  
_"Won't you come on! And come on! And  
Raise your glass!  
Just come on and come and  
Raise your glass  
...For me!"_

With a final cheer and whoop the song ended and Blaine laughed and gave a small bow, handing back the mic to James as Jon clapped him on the back.

"That was awesome man," he said as the pair of them made their way back into the crowd.

"Totally man," Blaine smiled, feeling on top of the world.

* * *

"Who was that up there again?" Santana turned to find a girl in a revealing 'nurse' outfit, complete with fishnet stockings and red heels and a drink of sorts in her hand.

"Blaine. My fake boyfriend," Santana smiled rather proudly, feeling like she wanted to take responsibility for Blaine taking off his mask for a few moments but knowing she wasn't really responsible. Instead she took a swig of her own drink.

"Fake boyfriend?" the girl inquired.

"He's gay and I think I might be a lesbian but we're covering each other's asses from the school assholes back in Ohio." Santana shrugged, surprised how easy it was to admit to something like that when she knew this girl knew nothing about her and would probably never see her again after tonight.

"Wow, that sounds tough," she said, giving Santana a sympathetic look. "I'm Martha," she then smiled, holding out her hand in introduction.

"Santana," she said as she took the hand, shaking it politely.

"Can I just say you look smoking hot tonight," Martha smiled a little shyly, out of character in comparison to her outfit, which screamed confidence.

"Thank you," Santana smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear a little reservedly as she straightened out the front of her top, ridding the low cut dress-top of wrinkles. "I have to say I'm jealous of your outfit, where'd you find a nurse outfit like _that_?"

"Oh," Martha laughed, playing absently with a strand of her long light brown hair. "I stole it off my best friend for tonight. She went for playboy bunny anyway."

"Wanky," Santana laughed.

"San!" she turned to find Blaine.

"Hey Blainers," she laughed, "How was that?"

"It was so awesome!" Blaine laughed happily. "I can't believe the twins pushed me into it but I'm so glad they did. Speaking of the Hartman twins, apparently they want to play spin the bottle. You wanna join us?"

"You're playing spin the bottle with those maniacs?" Santana asked.

"There's a couple of other hot guys joining us," Blaine blushed. "Anyway, your friend here's welcome to join us too,"

"Really?" Martha asked smiling a little at Blaine as beamed at her from Santana's side.

"Of course!" Blaine laughed happily again. "Gives Santana someone to make out with besides me," he teased.

"Oh like I'm kissing you when you're this hyper anyway," Santana scolded playfully, winking at Martha. "You up for it?"

"Of course." Martha beamed, following Santana and Blaine towards a small circle of Warbler boys and a couple of young models they'd evidently hooked up with.

"Ridgeways! I brought San and her friend," Blaine announced as he slumped rather inelegantly to a seat on the floor in the circle.

"I'm Martha," she introduced herself as she sat much more composedly between Santana and Jeff.

"Hi Martha!" chorused the teens around the circle causing her to laugh and give them a small wave.

"First of all, regular Ridgeway rules apply. It lands on you; you pick truth or dare. Anything said or done from this point onwards is never spoken of to anyone outside the circle right now. What's said and done in Ridgeway spin the bottle, stays within Ridgeway spin the bottle." Explained Evan as he held up an empty glass bottle and placed it on a flat space on the floor. "Who wants to spin it?"

* * *

Fourteen spins later it landed on Santana. The whole group whooped and cheered and disrupted Santana and Martha's conversation, causing to realise it was her turn.

"Alright guys, keep your panties on. So the Ridgeway rules apply right?" she laughed.

"Sure do," Nick nodded from where he was nursing his already growing hangover as he'd given up drinking anything but water after spin 6 so he could remember some of the game the next morning.

"Okay then. Truth." Santana nodded to herself, pulling herself into a better sitting position.

"Who out of this circle do you most want to make out with?" Came the almost instant question from Dean that had most of the group laughing at his forwardness. Dean was always forward like that but that didn't mean it had lost its comic value amongst the boys. Santana hummed in indecision for a moment before the twins' mouths dropped open.

"You mean it's not Blainers?" they asked in unison. Santana bit her lip but shook her head.

"No offence Blaine, but you know you're not my type,"

"None taken," laughed Blaine waving it away.

"Oh not again," groaned Ethan, dropping his head into his hands.

"Not what again?" asked Santana.

"What's that now? Four times?" Blaine teased.

"Six. You missed the two girls they tried to seduce over spring break that turned out to be lesbians." Dwight filled in, pushing his dark hair out if his eyes as he spoke.

"Someone please fill me in here," Martha pleaded.

"Basically these two have a terrible track record for presuming people are straight then they're gay." Trent filled in for all those who didn't know.

"Hey, don't put a label on me yet. I don't even know, okay?" Santana said fiercely. "I'm still trying to figure this out myself. Blaine's just being amazing and covering my ass until I figure it out,"

"And it's **so** not six. We guessed Blaine!" Evan complained.

"Only after you saw him making love eyes at that Vale boy,"

"Hey! It was just a crush okay? Stop bringing it up," Blaine complained, hiding his face in his hands.

"Anyway. You still gotta answer that truth," Jeff laughed lightly from the other side of Martha.

"Okay well, probably out of you lot here Martha," Santana admitted, blushing deep red.

"Hey, I know you said you're only here for like three more days before you lot take off again and that Blaine's technically your boyfriend, but I'm totally up for no-strings-attached making out right now if you want." Martha offered, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Seriously?" Santana asked.

"Sure. You're super hot and if you're only here for a couple days I'm gonna take my chance and ask you to make out whilst I can." Martha laughed.

"See you later then boys," Santana smirked, standing and pulling Martha to her feet.

* * *

"Oh my god my head hurts," Blaine groaned, burying his face in his pillows.

"I can't say I'm that much better off than you," Santana sighed as she slumped onto the mattress beside him, toeing off her heels. "You probably only had like, three more than I did," she giggled.

"Yeah but you can hold your drink," Blaine groaned into the pillows before hauling himself upright with great effort to pull off his clubbing clothes.

"Yeah but at least you made out with some hot guy," Santana laughed, pulling off her own dress and rooting around for her pyjamas.

"He was pretty hot," Blaine giggled childishly.

"Do you turn into a five year old when you're drunk?" Santana laughed as she found her nightdress and started looking for Blaine's pyjamas too as he seemed too out of it to do much more than sit there dazed.

"Sometimes," Blaine allowed. "But how was Mary? Was she a good kisser?"

"Martha. And yeah, she was pretty good but actually, I think you were better." Santana smiled as she grabbed Blaine's clothes and helped him into his shirt and sweatpants.

"Really?" Blaine asked as he nearly toppled over stepping into his sweats.

"Yeah," Santana laughed as she steadied him.

"I'd keep you to that but I'll probably forget by the morning," Blaine slurred. Santana just laughed and shook her head slightly.

"Go brush your teeth and then come back to bed okay? If you fall over and can't get up shout for me,"

* * *

_Colours shone then faded, splashing across whatever view this was. Then with a thud there was suddenly a real view.  
An empty playground.  
It's so eerily familiar but I can't put a name on it, but I know it's somewhere I've been. A sound breaks the silence; a dull sloshing splash and then everything's cold, freezing down my back, my neck, freezing me to my core. I lift a hand up to the back of my neck and when I pull it back to inspect it it's red. Panic sets in but I can see it's not blood. It's red dye number 6. There are lumps of ice on my fingertips as I turn I see who threw it. There's a plastic red cup in their hands but it's empty. Of course it's empty, it's just been emptied over my back and neck. Finally my gaze lifts and I can see who the figure is.  
"Not so nice is it? Being stabbed in the back?"_

Kurt broke from his dream in a panicked cold sweat, panting hard and sitting bolt upright. He took several deep breaths and tried to calm himself but his heart just kept beating so damn fast. He extracted himself from the sheets he'd gotten tangled up in and headed to his en suite bathroom. There he splashed cold water over his face and neck, checking paranoid for red seeping down his neck but finding none. He splashed his face again before drying it, sneaking back into his room and slipping back into his place on the bed beside the still sleeping Rachel. He couldn't get comfortable though as he tried to slip back into sleep. Glancing at the clock he saw it was gone 3am. With a groan he screwed his eyes shut and tried not to let Blaine's hazel eyes appear in his dreams again.

He failed though.

* * *

**A/N: What do you think? please review, it seriously helps me write these better. It means I'm actually writing something you guys will enjoy too xxx**


	17. New York, New York

**A/N: Thank you reviewers!** _jocelynnBpalmer, Charmedmich and xXxDracoAddictxXx_**! I love the straight to the point review DracoAddict, and wow, I can barely run 500 metres without being tired, how the hell anyone manages 5miles I don't know. And yes Charmedmich, he is and will always be Kurt's, but that doesnt say he cant have some fun making out with a randomer in NYC. and he doesn't remember them anyway so I don't think it counts much, especially not in Blaine's view. SO! New chapter, LETS GO!**

* * *

**Chapter 17 (apologies right from the start, it's short I know but it felt wring to start the LA stuff midchapter so here's the last of NYC)  
**

"Oh Kurt you're not still grumpy about them not ringing are you?" Rachel whined Monday morning in glee club.

"Bout who not ringing who?" asked Sugar.

"By the way, anyone find out what happened the Blaine and Santana this weekend? They totally fell off the radar," Artie chirped up.

"Santana's in New York," Brittany smiled happily. "She told me she got to visit the big apple with Blaine,"

"Why am I not surprised Britt knows?" Kurt mumbled to himself.

"Kurt's just sour because we finally managed to make contact with the pair on Saturday afternoon but then Blaine had to leave us because his cell got stolen by his friends. He said he'd ring back but clearly he forgot." Rachel piped up. "That; and Kurt and I wish we were in New York too."

"Wait, wait." Mr. Shue said, finally realising what was being said. "Blaine and Santana are in New York?"

"Of course!" Britt smiled. "They left Saturday lunchtime and have been out there with Blaine's friends since then. Blaine's friends have an apartment out there and a night club and stuff and the photos Santana sent me make it look totally awesome."

"They sent you photos?" asked Tina as Brittany pulled out her cell and a laptop.

"Yeah. I tried to put them onto my laptop but it just didn't work. I tried asking it nicely and everything but no luck. Anyone else know how to put these onto my laptop?" she asked. Tina next to her quickly uploaded the photos then opened them for the New Directions to gawp at. There were nearly 20, all in different locations it seemed. Central Park. Times Square. Times square with the Warbler boys. Outside Tiffany's. Broadway. Inside shopping malls. It was like a scrapbook, a flipbook that showed them where they'd been. There was one of a small dinosaur toy Santana had bought and had Blaine take a photo of her holding with a tag on it that read _for Brittany_. One of them outside of a club.

"Santana said the club belongs to the twins parents. And that it's for like, high school kids. 15 to 19 or something so they're totally allowed in. She said they made Blaine sing too for the club." Britt explained as the screen was changed to the next photo, one of a large circle of teens with a glass bottle in the middle. Spin the bottle. A pang of unreasonable jealously spiked through Kurt at the image. It took him a moment to realise why.

_Geez Kurt, he's allowed to kiss whoever he wants to. And it's not like you have any right to get annoyed over what he does and whether he tells you. Sure he should only be kissing Santana but I'm not entirely sure she's that into him. I've seen the way she looks at Britt. Argh, just shut up and stop caring about Blaine like this. It's doing you no good and just making you hate this mess more and more. Just shut up and be jealous of him for being in New York and not for who he's with. Just for New York.  
_

"Oh, this one I'm meant to show Coach Sylvester. She sent Santana to spy on some cheerleading teams apparently." Brittany said as it switched to a photo of a cheerleading pyramid in Central Park.

"So Coach Sylvester is aware that Santana's not here?" Mr. Shue asked, having tried to keep impartial but ended up being just as interested in the photos as everyone else.

"Yeah. San said Coach sent her to go spy and that's why it's okay that she's not gonna be here all week. She said Coach was really nice and that she even said she'd let Blaine have this week off as authored absence because else Santana wouldn't be going."

"It's called authorized honey," Kurt said gently.

"Oh cool. I still don't know what it means but that's okay." Britt shrugged.

* * *

"Wow, the view up here is amazing," Blaine smiled as he leant against the railings by the window, looking out over the large expanse of New York City that was slowly turning white with snow before him.

"You can say that again," Santana seconded as she snapped a photo of the view. "Hey Blaine, say cheese,"

"Cheese," Blaine laughed, smiling as she turned the camera on him.

"Hey David?" Santana asked.

"Yup?" said the Warbler, wondering over,

"You mind taking a pic of me and Blainers?" she said, handing over her cell phone.

"Sure, strike a pose guys," he laughed as the couple stuck many a pose from sticking out their tongues to Blaine pressing a kiss to Santana's cheek, a photo snapped at each one.

"Awesome." Santana smiled. "Thanks D,"

"No problem. Hey, me and Wes were gonna head out to grab and early lunch somewhere nearby in a minute. You guys hungry?" David offered as the cell phone was handed back.

"Yeah sure. I didn't really have much for breakfast." Blaine shrugged.

"That's because you were busy nursing a hangover. For the second time in not even three full days," Santana jibed, elbowing Blaine in the ribs.

"Shut up," Blaine groaned, elbowing her back and following the now laughing Ridgeway boy down the steps.

"Well the fresh air did you good anyway," Wes said as he caught onto the conversation.

"Oh god is everyone gonna tease me for this. Dean and Arthur were hungover this morning too." Blaine protested.

"Probably," Santana laughed, tapping at her iphone screen. "Hey I'm totally sending this one to Britt,"

"Yeah, that is a nice one," Blaine conceded as he looked at the photo she was indicating.

"Awesome." She smiled, pressing send.

* * *

"Oh, Santana sent me another photo!" Britt squealed happily just as the folder-ful of photos ran out on the laptop. "Somebody put in on the screen!" Tina quickly obliged and the room let out a whole range of jealous noises.

"Dude that's got to be the view from the Statue of Liberty." Artie said as Brittany texted back a quick reply.

"They're so lucky," sighed Sugar. "I so wanna go there."

"Well nationals is there this year-" was as far as Rachel got before Mercedes hit her on the arm.

"Girl we got through sectionals not three days ago. Give it a rest," she complained.

"Guys!" said Brittany, getting everyone's attention once more. "Santana say's she'll Skype call us!"

* * *

"We do have internet connection here right?" asked Blaine as Santana fired up a laptop Wes had produced from his bag.

"Sure do." Wes confirmed as the laptop sprung quickly to life and Santana logged into Skype quickly.

"Here we go," she smiled as the dialling tone rang out. After a couple of moments a pixellated image blurred into view of the McKinley High choir room. Santana pressed the button to start their own webcam quickly and soon they were waving back.

"Hi guys!" San beamed, waving excitedly at Brittany.

"_Hi!_" came the crackled reply from everyone, all waving happily back at them.

"How are you guys?" Santana asked although Blaine knew the question was really only directed at Brittany.

"_We're good!"  
"Great!"  
"Still here,"  
"Haven't killed Rachel just yet,"  
"HEY!"  
"What? It's true,"  
"You guys are practically intolerable some days,"_

"Anyway," Santana laughed, diffusing a Rachel Berry tantrum before it got out of hand. "You weren't planning on doing something crazy important this week Mr. Shue?"

"_Not really I guess." _He sighed, running a hand over his face. _"Christmas carols as there's only a week left anyway."_

"Awesome, so no huge curriculum things we'll be missing," she nodded happily.

"_How's New York?" _called Quinn from behind Mr. Shuester.

"It's amazing," Santana beamed. She gushed happily about all their antics for the next twenty minutes straight, barely letting Blaine get a word in edgeways though he didn't care. Santana was the happiest and most open about it he'd ever seen her and who was he to interrupt her. He'd sip at his coffee from beside her and listen to the stories she told; very glad she left out his drunken make out session at the club their first night in New York. He could barely remember what the guy looked like only that he'd been attractive to Blaine's drunken eyes and to be honest, that was how Blaine preferred it; a hazy memory but fun at the time. The guy hadn't asked for Blaine's number, nor Blaine for his and he doubted he'd recognise the guy if they met on the street.

He also decided not to interrupt because it meant he could just admire the jealous looks on Kurt and Rachel's faces. He would never usually take glee in those sorts of looks or from being the one to put them there, but with these two they were so nearly identical it was priceless. By the time the bell went for the end of glee club Blaine and Santana's lunch turned up as if on cue. They bid goodbye to the glee clubbers and set about their brunch, planning what to do on their last two days in New York...


	18. Los Angeles

**A/N:** _Charmedmich _**and**_ xXxDracoAddictxXx_** I love you guys for the numerous reviews throughout these chapters :) I totally agree that the Warblers would be just so much fun to hang out with and I ssoooo wish they were reallll! Well here's the next chapter and it's LA baby!  
Also a big thankyou to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU READING THIS because somehow this story has just passed 10,000 hits and I freaking love you guys!**** You're all supermegafoxyawesomehot and I love you to pieces for everything. xxxxxx**

**Also, tiny note, this chapter is total Blaintana bro-ness. They're just awesome together okay?  
**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

The second plane ride of the trip was much calmer. The only spot they'd been able to snag at the airport with Wes's plane had been early. _Very_ early. Most of the Warblers were still half asleep as they boarded the private jet and pretty much everyone collapsed into large padded chairs, plush couches and Ethan even plonked himself down in the middle of the thick carpet, grabbing a cushion and sleeping in the middle of the floor. Santana slept on a sofa with Blaine, letting him curl an arm around her as he had done many a night in their NY shared room. It was the kind of closeness that she actually enjoyed a lot and though she wished it would be Brittany sleeping alongside her she couldn't help but fall asleep faster knowing there was somebody there for her. She told herself it was stupid thinking but that didn't change what she thought.

Several hours later they bundled off the jet in LAX, appearances fixed and fully rested. First stop was Trent's family's large mansion where they all called dibs on rooms then unpacked slowly.

"It's beautiful here," Blaine sighed as he sat with his knees to his chest on the small alcove window ledge. Santana joined him quietly, sitting with her back to the opposite wall and shuffling her feet until they were comfortably positioned between Blaine's own.

"It is," she said, a peaceful smile on her face as she turned to gaze out the window too, trying (and failing) to make out more than just 'WOO' of the Hollywood sign from in between mansions nearby.

"One day, I'm gonna live here." Blaine mused.

"Yeah?" Santana asked.

"Yeah. Here or New York. Somewhere with a view. Somewhere with music. Someone to share it with. I guess that's all I need." Blaine said quietly. "I just... is it wrong of me to want to make it big, if only to show off that all the people who've held me back haven't had the effect they wanted on me? I don't know I just... I want to show them all they can't own me, can't overpower me. They might think it, but they'll never really stop me being me."

"That's not wrong at all." Santana said quietly, pressing her hand lightly over Blaine's where it rested on his knee. "It's the best thing actually. You just want to get above them, away from them. I can barely imagine what'll happen when I come out but I can only hope Britt and my positions in Cheerios will keep us sorta safe."

"You don't have to come out till you're ready you know. You could hide away until you can escape Ohio with Britt if you really wanted. I'm not saying you should, but... you have that option."

"I thought you said you chose to come out?" Santana asked gently. Blaine shrugged half-heartedly.

"Just... people suspected it before I even knew. I hated that they knew more about me than I did. I hated the looks they gave me because they had opinions of me for being something I didn't even know I was. It didn't really get much better after I came out because people knew they were right. They now had a name to put on the reason they didn't like me. An excuse. They knew it would hurt me more calling me those names because they were true. I'd force a smile though; pretend I didn't care. But it hurt like hell to see they'd scratched 'fag' into my locker 20 times or whatever they tried to do."

"You're so much better than them Blaine. You're... you're kinda the kindest person I know. All people have done to you is bring you down yet here you are, climbing right back up." Santana soothed, rubbing her fingers gently across the back of Blaine's hand. He tore his gaze form the window and Santana couldn't miss the single tear rolling down his cheek.

"That means so much to me San," he said.

"Oh come here you giant puppy you," Santana said, sitting up and pulling Blaine into a hug. He hid his face in her shoulder as she hugged him fiercely, trying not to let any more tears fall. After a moment Santana pulled back and wiped his cheeks gently with her soft sleeve.  
"C'mon puppy. Let's get you ready to roll. We've got the whole of LA just waiting for us to explore and I have a cheerleading quad to spy on."

"You visiting them today or tomorrow?" Blaine sniffed, smiling a little at the puppy comparison.

"Today I think. You wanna join me? Be my boyfriend some more?" she smiled.

"Sure. Why not?"

* * *

"We're not like, breaking in here are we?" Blaine asked as they headed towards the school playing field.

"Nah. Sue said that some kids sit around and watch anyway, waiting for their friends or something." Santana shrugged as they strode through the wide-open gate to the field and began to climb the bleachers. The team on the field didn't look too good, even to Blaine's untrained eyes. Santana had to hold back a scoff as one girl nearly fell right through the group's hands as the came back to earth from being thrown.

"These girls are terrible, even I can see that," Blaine whispered to Santana as they took a seat midway up the bleachers, wrapping their coats around them tighter.

"I know. God it's painful to watch." Santana groaned, hiding her face in Blaine's shoulder and causing to laugh and warp an arm around her waist. Blaine realised then just how normal it seemed to do things like this; an arm around a waist here, a hand held there. They were just natural by now, he didn't even have to think about it. He was so glad that he and Santana just had... something. He wasn't sure what it was but it kept them close, even though they weren't in love or anything. It made them convincingly in love to the world and close enough for it to just feel right to hold each other close and comfort each other. Blaine was starting to think of Santana as a sister in how close they seemed.

"We're attracting attention you know," Blaine sighed as he glanced at a small group of girls a few rows below them who kept trying to be surreptitious in their glances.

"Screw it. I don't care. I'm too lazy to move right now," Santana shrugged into Blaine's shoulder, turning her head to watch the catastrophe on the field.

"What happened to the lively Santana I knew?" Blaine joked.

"She died. In her sleep on that jet," Santana dead-panned before breaking out into a small laugh. Blaine rolled his eyes at her though she couldn't see.

"We slept for like... five and a half hours straight. How can you _still_ be tired?" he laughed.

"Hey, I was comfy on that plane. I didn't want to get up." She laughed.

"You mean you were comfy on _me_. You were lying on me the whole time,"

"You didn't complain at the time," Santana laughed.

"I was asleep at the time," Blaine laughed in return. A girl on the cheerleading team who fell from the top of the pyramid suddenly captured Blaine's attention and he winced as she collided with the cold frozen ground.

"Ouch," said Santana who'd clearly seen it too.

"Reckon she'll be okay?" Blaine asked as the girl picked herself off the floor with the help of her friends.

"Who cares? It was her fault anyway."

"Santana!"

"It was! She didn't keep her legs straight properly and leant backwards too far and then it all came tumbling down." Santana protested. "Don't blame me for knowing my stuff,"

"Okay. I'll give you that then," Blaine sighed. "But can we go now or something? This place is boring as hell and it's supposed to start snowing soon."

"Sure," Santana smiled, standing up and dusting off her coat. "Let's roll,"

* * *

"Santana?" Blaine whispered into the darkness of their room later that night.

"Yeah?" she whispered back form her own single bed.

"I just wanna say that, like, no matter what happens in the future, I always wanna stay in touch. Cause I know we'll probably end up going separate ways and you'll be an amazing famous cheerleader or singer or something whilst I play crappy music in bars or something, but I wanna say that I always wanna stay in touch. Cause you mean a lot to me, because you've listened to me and not just seen me as a sob story. You've seen the me that just wants to be happy and you've done so much in helping that." Blaine whispered, closing his eyes a moment and pretending it was just his internal monologue because saying it out loud sounded so cheesy. Blaine heard bed sheets rustling and saw the shape of Santana's bed moving until he could just about make out her face.

"You really mean that? You'll wanna stick around as my friend even after you don't have to?" she asked.

"Of course. I've gotten so used to having you in my life and so close to me it'll probably be so weird without you in it. So I don't want to have that happen. You're one of the best friends I've ever made, hell probably _the_ best. You have no idea how much you've done for me by just being here," Blaine admitted, wanting to hit himself he sounded so sappy. He closed his eyes again but heard the bed sheets rustle again so knew Santana had moved. He didn't expect the weight on his bed beside him so nearly jumped in shock.

"Oi, budge up," she said as she nudged him.

"Wh- I... okay," Blaine said, a little confused at first but moving over to let her slid under his covers too.

"Geez you're so toasty under here," she noted as she slid under, pressing her cold feet to Blaine's exposed shins and earning a gasp of shock at the temperature difference form Blaine. "Sorry," she apologized, retracting her cold feet. She laid her head on the pillow next to Blaine's, facing him and holding his hands with hers in between them.

"So, seeing as we're being sappy but honest, I'm gonna take my turn." She smiled at him through the darkness. "First I'm gonna say I feel the same way too; the feeling so close to you, the feeling like you just _get_ me, unlike everyone else. I feel like you know me better than I do myself sometimes but I'm glad for it. Like how when you saw me pick up that dinosaur you told me it'd make a great Christmas gift for Britt. And I couldn't believe you'd suggested just what I was thinking, but you just knew. Second, I don't wanna loose you either. I feel like you're practically a part of my family, like you're this big brother who's got nothing better to do than make me laugh and cheer me up should I need it and listen to me ramble when I'm not sure I'm making sense anymore. Thirdly, and this is where we go super sappy right, I wanna play a game with you."

"What sort of game?" Blaine asked, intertwining their fingers together and trying to warm up hers as they were nearly as cold as her feet. He was also hoping Santana wouldn't see the tears escaping his eyes and rolling into the pillow at her revelation that matched his.

"A crazy '_in ten years, I wanna be_' sort of game," she smiled causing Blaine to laugh gently.

"Okay but you first," he smiled.

"Okay. So... in ten or so years, I wanna be... I'm actually gonna say in New York because I really loved the past few days there. I'll have graduated from a performing arts university 'cause if I'm really honest, I like glee club more than Cheerios. Sue would kill me if I told her but whatever. Uh... let me see, okay. So I wanna be legally married to my girl and hopefully it'll be Britt but I can't say for sure because, you know, I've not asked her out or anything. But, yeah. Your start; go!"

"First I'm gonna just say all of that's really awesome." Blaine smiled.

"Hey, your go,"

"I'm getting there!" he laughed. "Okay. So. In ten or so years I want to have... I want to have graduated from a performing arts university too. But if I'm super honest, there's this one that I've heard of called the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. Or NYADA. I really wanna go there but it's super competitive and there's like, a tiny amount of people that get in there each year. But still, it'd be amazing to get in there."

"Blaine, this is our crazy game. You can go wherever you want," Santana reminded him.

"Okay," he laughed. "So I've been to NYADA then. And I'll have this amazing boyfriend who's super supportive. Maybe we'll be married too, I don't know. But either way, he'll always be pushing me to do what I want to and I'll do the same for him. I know this is cheesy now but like, past ten years, let's say fifteen maybe even twenty. But I'd like to think one day I'll have a family. Adopt a little boy or girl and they'd just be like, our entire world. It'd be us and our little kid and we'd be living out our dreams. I'd be like, making albums or on a small stage somewhere, maybe even a screen whilst he'd be... I don't even know. But we'd be happy, stupidly so. Oh god I can't believe I just said all that!" Blaine buried his head into the pillows. "That sounds so cheesy and ugh,"

"Hey," Santana laughed, nudging his shoulder. "It's not. It's a dream, it's allowed to be anything. And you're only allowed a kid if I get to be Auntie Tanna. And you'll be Uncle Bee to my kid one day. And your mad brother will be the craziest Uncle ever to both our kids." That got Blaine laughing again.

"He'd be absolutely insane. It's be such a bad idea to let him near kids," Blaine smirked.

"You let him near Reed though," Santana laughed.

"Sporadically. I'm not sure Reed's always aware of what Cooper's saying and he's able to visit so little that Coop hasn't had the chance to turn him insane yet,"

"Oh like he did you?" Santana teased, poking his side.

"Yes, exactly," Blaine laughed. "He'll get you too someday. It'll be crazy Auntie Tanna and mental Uncle Cooper. Just you wait,"

"Somehow, that doesn't even scare me off," Santana laughed.


	19. Los Angeles: Best Party Ever

**A/N: I can't believe I've had over 700 hits since my later update, it's CRAZY you guys! I love you all so much! and my dear **_xXxDracoAddictxXx_**! I swear they will talk! Super soon too! and maybe he was, maybe he wasn't thinking of Kurt then, who knows? and I know, that's so weird, well for future reference, my name's Jeni but call me Tiger :P  
**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

"You do realise that having a pool _inside_ your house is insanely cool right?" asked Santana as she gawped at it slightly. Blaine laughed along with the rest of the Warblers and slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Let's get in already!" Jeff beamed, shrugging off his towel from around his shoulders and running at it, jumping and grabbing his shins to splash as many of his friends as he could. He was soon followed by Nick, David, Arthur, Ethan and Evan and Blaine couldn't help but laugh at the scene before him of spluttering and splashing teenagers. Trent opened a large cupboard and threw a beach ball into the fray before Ethan pulled him in.

"The water's so warm," Blaine smiled as he dipped his toes over the edge for a moment before ditching his towel on a plastic sun lounger and dived headfirst into the deep end. Santana laughed as Blaine resurfaced; shaking his sopping hair from his eyes like a wet dog. She ditched her own towel and dive bombed in, splashing Evan in the face for good measure.

"This is the best pool I've ever been in," Santana decided after she resurfaced, flinging her hair back over her shoulder in a very 'the little mermaid' movement, earning a laugh from all those watching.

"This house is just the best for house parties," Trent beamed happily as he pushed his own bangs from his forehead. "Speaking of which,"

"Don't tell me; huge Warbler and plus-one's party here on... Saturday?" Wes asked as he smacked the beach ball down to David at the other end of the pool.

"Nope, tomorrow,"

* * *

_Turns out it's more than just a few plus-one's, _Santana thought as she fought her way through the crowded rooms of Trent's LA mansion at something like 10pm on Friday night. The place was packed, Warblers and their girlfriends, Trent's other LA friends and half of their school it seemed, everyone packed into the downstairs rooms as Trent had locked off upstairs in some form of damage control. The mechanical floor had been raised on the basement floor so that people could dance and splash around in the waist high water without the fear of doing something stupid when they started getting drunk.

Santana finally pushed her way into the other basement room that was the soundproofed music room - a precaution that was sort of pointless as they'd opened up the double doors so that those in the pool could hear the live music being played from the smaller room - and finally found the small group of people she knew. Sure she'd had some fun making up bullshit stories about who she was to all the random people who bumped into her but now she just wanted to relax and get a refill on her drink.

"Santana!" yelled a boy she knew to be called Thad over the music, recognising his outfit - complete with a green Vale House Dalton badge pinned to his shirt - from when they'd been introduced earlier that day.

"Hi!" she yelled back over the blasting rock music that was being played by a band that had turned up at some point earlier in the evening. "How're you doing?"

"Amazing! This music is awesome!" he yelled happily, waving his arms wildly to indicate he was referring to the party. Santana blamed the alcohol.

"You seen Blaine?" she asked.

"He's just over there," Thad said happily, pointing to the laughing image of Blaine whose smile looked genuine still and not yet altered by alcohol. Santana gave Thad a quick thank you before slipping towards Blaine and slipping an arm around his waist. He turned in confusion but smiled when he realised it was Santana.

"Hi!" Blaine beamed, slipping an arm around her waist in return.

"Hey! How's it going?" she asked.

"Awesome!" Blaine smiled, nodding along to the music. "The guys are gonna take over from the band in a minute. You should totally take the stage tonight,"

"Really?" Santana asked unsure.

"Of course!" Blaine encouraged. A few moments later the song the band was playing ended - apparently, not that Santana could really tell, it all sounded the same - and the warbler boys jumped up to sing. After a loud and enthusiastic and only slightly drunk rendition of Little Bad Girl the whole house applauded and cheered drunkenly.

"Santana! Get your butt up here!" Ethan called, dragging her onto the mini stage that had been set up with the band.

"What?" she called over the din.

"Your turn! We got you a song lined up and everything!" Evan chirped happily as she reached the stage. They hit play on a humongous boom box that was linked up to several speakers throughout the house and handed Santana one of the mics they'd been using for Little Bad Girl.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me," she laughed as the beat kicked in.

"Go for it!" Blaine called. She rolled her eyes at him before kicking into life, belting out the lyrics.

_"Doctor, doctor, need you bad, hold me babe  
Doctor, doctor, where ya at? Give me something  
I need your love, I need your love, I need your lovin'  
You got that kind of medicine that keeps me comin'_

_My body needs a hero  
Come and save me  
Something tells me you know how to save me  
I've been feeling real low  
Oh, I need you, come and rescue me  
Oooh...!"_

The bass dropped and the whole house shook with it but Santana couldn't care less at that moment. She loved it, owning the song as if she was Nicki Minaj herself.

_"Make me come alive, come on and turn me on  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on  
I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on  
Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on_

_Make me come alive, come on and turn me on  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on  
I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on  
Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on_

_Boy, I'm achin' , make it right  
My temperature is super high  
If I scream, if I cry  
It's only cause I feel alive_

_My body needs a hero  
Come and save me  
Something tells me you know how to save me  
I've been feeling real low  
Oh, I need you, come and rescue me  
Oooh...!_

_Make me come alive, come on and turn me on  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on  
I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on  
Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on_

_Make me come alive, come on and turn me on  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on  
I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on  
Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on_

_You've got my life in the palm of your hands"  
_Santana was a little shocked but nearly laughed when she realised it was Ethan and Evan echoing her for the bridge, leaning into a shared microphone and beaming at her.  
_"Come save me now_  
_I know you can_

_D-D-D-D-Don't let me die young  
I just want you to father my young  
I just want you to be my doctor,  
We can get it crackin' chiropractor,  
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I - I know you can save me  
And make me feel alive_

_Make me come alive, come on and turn me on  
Touch me, save my life, come on and turn me on  
I'm too young to die, come on and turn me on  
Turn me on, turn me on, turn me on, turn me on!"_

With a final flourish and punch into the air the room - no strike that, the entire _house_ exploded with cheers and shouts and Santana laughed and thanked them as best she could, bowing and curtsying before jumping ecstatically from the stage.

"That was so much fun!" she beamed as she pulled Blaine into a hug.

"That was freaking awesome!" he replied as she pulled back. "And guess what?"

"What?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. Blaine slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out his iphone, waggling it at her. "No..." she gasped, realising.

"Oh yeah. I recorded it all," Blaine smiled. "This should so go on Facebook,"

"Seriously? Was it actually that good?" Santana said nervously as she recognized the chorus to another song had started up without her noticing.

"I'll put it this way San, if Mr. Shue sees this, he'll just have to give you a solo for Regional's," Blaine smiled.

"You're just saying that," Santana waved away.

"Uh, did you hear the deafening reaction of the _entire house_? They loved it! If Mr. Shue doesn't then he's just crazy,"

"Okay, well whatever. It's your turn up there next then, and I get to film you in revenge," Santana laughed.

"Deal," Blaine smirked. They dance together for the rest of the Warblers' song before clapping with the rest of the place.

"Hey Hartman!" Santana yelled over the cheers, both twins spun to seek out her voice and smiled at her with Cheshire cat grins. "You got space for one more performer?" she smirked in return, nudging Blaine onto the stage who just laughed.

"Of course." They beamed, speaking in sync. Blaine picked up an electric guitar and rolled his eyes at the twins. He moved to the band behind and whispered into their ears if they knew the song he wanted to sing. They nodded enthusiastically and started up the beat, letting Blaine launch straight into the song.

_"Let's, excuse me baby  
Go, yeah you baby  
Back, ooh you groovy baby  
In, let's make a movie baby  
Time,"  
_Blaine sung, nodding along to the beat as he gripped the mic on the stand before him. The Hartman twins nodded in approval and started up the backing singing.

_"Excuse me baby  
Let's (yeah you baby)  
Go, (ooh you groovy baby)  
Back in time (let's make a movie baby)_

_It's Mr Worldwide, Agent A, Reporting live  
From Cape Canaveral, MK, Big Syphe, let's ride"  
_Blaine jammed out the guitar solo motif that had the whole house jumping and rocking out._  
"Back, back, in, in, time  
(Baby, ohhh baby  
Ohhh baby, my sweet baby  
You're the one)"  
_With another guitar jam form Blaine the entire house felt like a club as it bounced and danced to the music.

_"Miami equals black mask, black clothes  
With a little bit of rope to tie, I flipped it  
Black suits, white shirts, black glasses with a matching tie  
Like Agent J or Agent K, and I wish the whole world would  
Ok, I'm tryin' make a billion out of 15 cents  
Understand, understood  
I'm a go-getter, mover, shaker, culture, bury a boarder, record-breaker won't cha  
Give credit where credit is due don't cha  
Know that I don't give a number two  
Y'all just halfway thoughts  
Not worth the back of my mind  
But to understand the future we have to go back in time_

_(Baby, ohhh baby  
Ohhh baby, my sweet baby  
You're the one)_

_I got the globe, yeah, in the palm of my hand  
Wherever I spin it, that's where I land  
Let's save the world  
Men In Black I know you understand_

_Stop the movement, they can try if they want to  
Ignorar lo latino, si, they can try if they want to  
What Pit solves is a bit raw  
Took like jigsaw and built it all  
Despite a big loss, I'd bet it all  
And fought blind against the world, Ray Charles  
Y'all just halfway thoughts  
Not worth the back of my mind  
But to understand the future, we have to go back in time_

_(Baby, ohhh baby  
Ohhh baby, my sweet baby  
You're the one)_

_Let's (excuse me baby)  
Go, (yeah you baby)  
Back, (ooh you groovy baby)  
In, (let's make a movie baby)  
Time, (excuse me baby)  
Let's, (yeah you baby)  
Go, (ooh you groovy baby)  
Back in, (let's make a movie baby)  
Time_

_(Baby, ohhh baby  
Ohhh baby, my sweet baby  
You're the one)"_

With a final flourish of the guitar the song ended and the house-turned-club erupted again. Santana laughed at Blaine's over the top bowing as he put the guitar back and clapped too, her iphone in hand still.

_Best. Party. Ever._

* * *

**A/N: Please tell** **me what you think of the chapter! Songs included were of course Turn Me On from the one and only D. Guetta and Nicki Minaj and Back In Time from Pitbull**_  
_


	20. Los Angeles: Drunken Blaine

**A/N: First, holy shit guys, 11,000 hits? I love you allll! Secondly, to my reviewers; to primarie, sorry if you don't think this is really categorised correctly. I will point out that in the description is says EVENTUAL Klaine, and that clearly the two have a long history that isn't going to disappear overnight. I hope this chapter (if you're still reading) will show you that I am planning on adding Klaine in properly. Unfortunately it's gonna be a good few chapters yet before they get any real progress as I have some really good stuff for Blaine planned whilst he's still on holidays. Yeah, it's mainly a Blaine story but I'm not ashamed to say that. It's told primarily from his perspective.  
**

**Oh Charmedmich, me too. I wanna live in a crazy house like his! I jsut basically wanna be a Warbler. Can I do that? as a girl expecially? no? crap. oh well!  
**

**xXxDracoAddictxXx I had no idea they were your favourite songs but I'm super glad you liked them! And this entire chapter is Klaine with the added bonus of drunken Blaine! yay! Let's go!**

* * *

**Chapter 20.  
**

Kurt groaned and rolled over, glancing at the clock on his bedside and groaning again at the sight of 3:14am glaring him in the face. He flung an arm out from under his thick warm sheets and grabbed his vibrating phone, answering the call without caring who it was.

"Yes?" he asked sleepily.

"_Oops! Hey Kurt!"_ came a sluggish reply from the other end.

"Wh... Blaine? What are you doing?" Kurt asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"_Sorry! I don't really know, I kinda dropped my phone an-and it started ringing an... yeah," _was Blaine's drunken giggling reply. _God, he sounds high for crying out loud_ - Kurt thought.

"Blaine how much have you had to drink?" Kurt asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

"_Jus-just a couple. Like, I had some beers earlier and then... Oh! Then we played shots! And I totally won like, Nick is even more light weight than I am so I totally beat him," _Blaine rambled. _"Santana gave me a high five afterward but I kinda missed her hand twice."_

_Oh good god, he's like a drunken Rachel Berry._ Kurt groaned internally.

"Have you taken any drugs or anything Blaine?" Kurt asked, definitely dreading this answer.

"_What? Noooo... Nope, no. Nobody here's got druuugs Kurt. We're good kids," _Blaine hiccupped then giggled.

"Blaine what are you doing?"

"_I'm just sittin' on the grass outside. It's kinda cold but that's okay. The airs good out here, I can think better here," _Blaine mused.

"Blaine, it's December. And isn't there snow in Los Angeles too?"

"_Yeah but not on the porch there isn't. On the porch it's okay. I kinda wish I had my coat though but it's hiding in my room and I don't wanna move to get it."_

"Please tell me you're wearing something sensible," Kurt said, eyes closed and just praying Blaine had some sense left in him.

"_Of course! I have this super cute shirt that I bought in New York on, with like, cropped sleeves and buttons down the front. And you'd totally like it because you always liked fashion. And then I have these jeans that Santana and Trent and Mitchell said made my ass look better, but they're a little thin and not really winter-y clothes but they still look cool even though they're all wet from when I was in the pool," _Blaine rambled happily.

"Your clothes are wet and you're outside in the snow?" Kurt asked, trying to get to the most important part of the things Blaine had revealed and not the fact he knew Kurt was into fashion or had had two guys tell him his ass looked good. "Are you insane?"

"_Noooo, why would you say thaaat?" _Blaine laughed.

"Because I know you, or at least the eleven year old you who sometimes I swear hasn't grown up,"

"_So what if I'm Peter Pan then? Then I'd never have to grow up! I wanna be Peter Pan. Can I do that?"_

"I don't think so Blaine," Kurt sighed.

"_Well that just sucks. Because I always have to grow up and I don't want to anymore. I want to be almost seventeen forever. No, I want to be almost eleven forever. Because nothing was bad when I was ten. And nothing ever got bad-er than you falling over in your heels when we played dress up but that was okay because I would try and catch you and you'd be okay and then I'd be okay. Why can't we just do that again? Why can't I be Prince Eric again and you be Ariel in your outfits your mom made you?"_

"Because the outfits don't fit me anymore Blaine. And we're not ten anymore," Kurt sighed, wishing also that they could just go back to that point in time when everything was fantastic and nothing hurt much and they were the best of friends. When Kurt hadn't screwed it all up. God Kurt wanted that back badly.

"_But that sucks. Everything sucks," _Blaine complained like a child.

"Not everything sucks Blaine. You have us as your friends. You have Santana, your girlfriend. You have glee club." Kurt reasoned, sitting up in his bed and leaning back on his pillows, now sure there was no way he was going to get back to sleep easily when they hung up. But if he was honest, he hadn't spoken to Blaine like this in just so long.

"_San's more like my sister than my girlfriend." _Blaine said.

"Why's that? You two always look so close," Kurt asked, puzzled.

"_That's cause we're actors Kurtieee. Sannie thinks she might be in love with Brittany and I'm just trying to help her 'til she's ready to make her mind up,"_

"Yeah, I sorta guess that. I mean, I've never said anything, but I've seen the way they look at each other." Kurt said, ignoring the way his heart raced at Blaine's old nickname for him. "But you don't have to try and help everyone Blaine. You just have to be yourself."

"_But people don't like myself," _Blaine mumbled.

"That's not true. I like you," Kurt said.

"_You don't. You don't even know me anymore sometimes. And I do have to help people. I have to make up for what I messed up,"_

"I don't believe you've ever messed up," Kurt said.

"_I don't believe that for a minute," _Blaine hiccupped. _"Not from you or from anyone. I'm a screw up and nobody really likes me."_

"No Blaine. Don't think like that." Kurt tried. "What about all your Warbler friends? They all like you right?"

"_I guess so..."_

"See. And Santana still likes you, even if it's not like _that_,"

"_She just feels sorry for me. I can see it in her eyes when I go quiet. She knows what I'm thinking 'bout and she knows I'm beating myself up 'bout it all and she just looks at me like I'm pathetic and lost. But I can't help bein' lost. I try but it's hard," _Blaine was sniffling now, probably crying too but Kurt had no real way of knowing.

"Blaine, you're not pathetic or lost. You're just you. And that's all you have to be,"

"_Says the Cheerio,"_

"Because you told me to. Because you helped me. Because you got into a fight with Karofsky to protect my ass when I never even asked you to or knew it was you helping me,"

"_Hey, I wasn't gonna let that ass get beaten up. It's too good for that,"_

"Well... thanks," Kurt blushed furiously. _Does he really think that or is it just the alcohol speaking? Dear god please let it be the first one. Oh for fuck sake Kurt, 1) he's not going to think about you like that and 2) why the hell do you want him to when you're fairly sure he still kinda hates you? Dear __**god**__ Kurt, sort your head out._

"_Blaine! There you are! We've been looking all over for you! Blainey you look frozen, come back inside and let's get you warmed up," _came a faint voice on the other end; clearly someone had found Blaine.

"_But I'm on the phone guys," _Blaine laughed.

"_Oooooh. Who to? Some toy boy of yours?" _teased the voice. There was a soft thunk and then laughter.

"_No! Shut up Evan. Or Ethan, I can't tell which of you's which when I'm drunk." _Blaine groaned.

"_C'mon, you gotta tell us who it is," _one of the twins whined childishly, possibly even a tad drunk themselves.

"_Hartmen, it's Kurt. Now shut up, I was tryin' to talk to him,"_

"_Oh Kuuuurtt, We know hiiiim,"_

"_What? You've never even met,"_

"_You talk and we remember what you say,"_

"_Bastards," _Blaine grumbled causing the two twins to burst into giggles. _"So what do you really want? I am still on the phone,"_

"_Just come back inside, San wants to see if you can still sing when you're drunk and so do we. And that can only happen if you haven't frozen to death,"_

"Blaine go, it's fine. You should go back inside and warm up. Don't stay out in the cold when you're still wearing wet clothes." Kurt said, ignoring the voice in his head that wanted to keep talking to Blaine and instead went with the logical one.

"_M'kay. I guess so. It is getting a little cold now I guess."_

"And Blaine, sober up. The hangover will be hell tomorrow," Kurt added.

"_Yeah. Always are," _Blaine laughed. _"Also are cause I get these guys up at 8am with nerf guns. Every. Single. Time."_

"_You love the nerf guns,"_

"_Not with a hangover I don't!" _Blaine retorted. _"Bye Kurt,"_

"Goodnight Blaine."

* * *

*- 1 New Message -*

_Blaine:-__ I am so, so, so, so, so sorry about last night. I just realised that rang you up at what must've been like, 2am your time and just drunkenly rambled at you for ages and I can't even remember a single word I said either. I am super mega sorry and dear god I hope I didn't say anything incriminating last night._

_You:-__ You did. A lot. But I won't tell anyone. And it was actually 3:14 when you rang so..._

_Blaine:-__ Oh dear god this is just mortifying. And to top it all I got the usual nerf gun to the face at 8:30 this morning to couple with my pounding head. Did I possibly tell you how much I'd had to drink last night? I can't remember a thing,_

_You:-__ Well you said you had a couple of beers then had a shots competition with a friend that you apparently won. Not really sure how you classify the winner of that sort of thing but hey, I guess you don't remember so we'll both be at a loss for that one._

_Blaine:-__ Oh god. The twins KNOW not to let me enter a shots contest. They're such assholes sometimes. God why am I friends with them?_

_You:-__ That's a question only you can answer you know._

_Blaine:-__ I know but... ugh, hangovers suuuuucccckkkk!_

_You:-__ So don't drink?_

_Blaine:-__ yeah but it's tasty :P and it helps_

_You:-__ Really? Didn't sound like it much last night?_

_Blaine:-__ it feels helpful to me at the time though... have you never drunk to just forget things?_

_You:-__ Blaine, we're nearly seventeen. We're not even allowed to buy the stuff yet_

_Blaine:-__ doesn't stop anyone drinking it_

_You:-__ You cannot be serious_

_Blaine:-__ that's right. I'm not Sirius. I'm Blaine._

_You:-__ Oh god. Not Harry Potter jokes. Please no_

_Blaine:-__ what's wrong with Harry Potter jokes?_

_You:-__ A lot of things Blaine. A lot of things._

_Blaine:-__ you love them really_

_You:-__ You wanna test that theory?_

_Blaine:-__ Not a theory. I still remember the glasses you made me try on when we were 9 and the Hogwarts rode dressing gown you had and wore to every sleepover_

_You:-__ ... Shut up._

* * *

**A/N: How's that my fellow Klainers? any good? please tell me what you think!xxx Tiger**


	21. Los Angeles: Open Mic Night

**A/N: Sorry this one's kinda short guys, but I think it kinda has to be separate from the next one. I know it doesn't really have much plot in but the mic night is a kinda important plot point for Blaine, hopefully you'll see why when the next couple go up :) Tell me what you think guys? and Charmedmich, yeah I kinda thought so too but it just didn't fit and I don't think Blaine has those feelings for Kurt yet. they're still a little too distant for Blaine to see that (though Kurt on the other hand...)**

* * *

**Chapter 21 Open Mic Night**

"If you're not gonna sing with us can you at least record it?" Santana asked Dwight as they walked through the snowy streets of Los Angeles.

"Record what? Blaine asked.

"Don't you know where we're going?" Santana asked.

"No," shrugged Blaine. "I've learnt it's best to just go with it with this lot,"

"Is that really a good idea?" Santana asked. Blaine just shrugged again and laughed and Santana rolled her eyes at him.

"So where are we going?"

"There's this cute little place nearby that's having an open mic night tonight, it's like my favourite place and they do really good food too. So I told them we'd go sing for them tonight," Trent beamed excitedly as he appeared at Blaine's elbow.

"Really?" Blaine asked, trying not to groan.

"Aww, c'mon B. You know you love to perform even if you won't admit it." Trent said, elbowing Blaine in the side as they walked.

"He's just conflicted. Too shy to take centre stage when really that's all he wants," Arthur said, earning himself a playful shove form Blaine.

"Hey, you do realise that without 'Bas here you're our lead warbler." Trent reminded.

"Are you serious? I'm not even a Warbler anymore," Blaine said.

"C'mon. Once a Warbler, always a Warbler." Arthur said, holding out his first for a brofist. Blaine sighed and bumped knuckles.

"Yeah, true," he laughed.

"So, what songs d'you wanna sing guys!" Trent asked excitedly.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen and children and otherwise," Evan beamed into the microphone from the stage, earning a couple of chuckles from the audience of families seated around the restaurant. "We're just some nutters from Ohio but we're generally known as the Dalton Academy Warblers. Tonight we're hopefully going to entertain you, so we'll start off this open mic night without further ado!"

Evan slipped back into the ranks of the Warblers who'd formed a fairly organized group on the stage, standing between his grinning twin and Dean. Dwight gave them a thumbs up from his seat at the back of the room, video camera in hand telling them it was recording and they started up the beat. Blaine, who had been persuaded into standing in the centre for his lead, stepped forwards slightly as he began the first verse.

"_Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains  
I knew I wouldn't forget you  
And so I went and let you blow my mind  
Your sweet moonbeam  
The smell of you in every single dream I dream  
I knew when we collided you're the one I have decided  
Who's one of my kind_

_Hey soul sister, ain't that mister, mister on the radio, stereo  
The way you move ain't fair you know  
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight"_

For the chorus the boys started up their traditional Warbler two-step, snaping their fingers with the beat as they sung, the families at their tables all smiling and nodding along to the beat too.

"_Just in time, I'm so glad you have a one track mind like me  
You gave my life direction  
A game show love connection, we can't deny  
I'm so obsessed  
My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest  
I believe in you, like a virgin, you're Madonna  
And I'm always gonna wanna blow your mind_

_Hey soul sister, ain't that mister, mister on the radio, stereo  
The way you move ain't fair you know  
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight_

_The way you can cut a rug  
Watching you is the only drug I need  
So gangster, I'm so thug  
You're the only one I'm dreaming of  
You see I can be myself now finally  
In fact there's nothing I can't be  
I want the world to see you being with me_

_Hey soul sister, ain't that mister, mister on the radio, stereo  
The way you move ain't fair you know  
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight  
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight  
Heeey heeeey heeeeey, tonight  
Heeey heeeey heeeeey, tonight"_

The room applauded happily, some of the smaller kids cheering and whooping and the twins sent them happy waves in thank you.

"Thank you," Blaine smiled, stepping forwards again. "Next, we'd like to sing a little Snow Patrol for you,"

The boys started up a soft beat that grew gently, so that after a moment, Blaine started the first verse.

"_All this feels strange and untrue  
And I won't waste a minute without you  
My bones ache, my skin feels cold  
And I'm getting so tired and so old_

_The anger swells in my guts  
And I won't feel these slices and cuts  
I want so much to open your eyes  
'Cause I need you to look into mine_

_Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,_

_Get up, get out, get away from these liars  
'Cause they don't get your soul or your fire  
Take my hand, knot your fingers through mine  
And we'll walk from this dark room for the last time_

_Every minute from this minute now  
We can do what we like anywhere  
I want so much to open your eyes  
'Cause I need you to look into mine_

_Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,_

_Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,  
Tell me that you'll open your eyes,"_

The Warblers skipped the majority of the extra long instrumental part of the song, slipping quickly into the last part so that Blaine could sing the final lines.

"_All this feels strange and untrue  
And I won't waste a minute without you..."_

The room burst into applause again and the boys all bowed and thanked them for the praise. When the noise quietened down again, Ethan stepped up to the main mic.

"And now we'd like to introduce someone who to us, is a very special guest; Miss Santana Lopez." He smiled as he held a hand out to one side and Santana stepped forwards through the Warblers, bowing towards the clapping crowd. Blaine slipped to one side of the stage and onto the stool before an upright piano as Santana took the mic Ethan passed to her and leaned against the side of it.

"Hit it Blainers," she smiled to him as he laughed and began to play.

"_He left no time to regret  
Kept his lips wet  
With his same old safe bet  
Me and my head high  
And my tears dry  
Get on without my guy  
You went back to what you knew  
So far removed from all that we went through  
And I tread a troubled track  
My odds are stacked  
I'll go back to black"_

Blaine smiled up at Santana as she hit every note perfectly, and she smiled back when she caught his eye.

"_We only said good-bye with words  
I died a hundred times  
You go back to her  
And I go back to_

_I go back to us  
I love you much  
It's not enough  
You love blow and I love puff  
And life is like a pipe  
And I'm a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside_

_We only said good-bye with words  
I died a hundred times  
You go back to her  
And I go back to  
We only said good-bye with words  
I died a hundred times  
You go back to her  
And I go back to_

_Black, black, black, black,  
black, black, black,  
I go back to  
I go back to_

_We only said good-bye with words  
I died a hundred times  
You go back to her  
And I go back to  
We only said good-bye with words  
I died a hundred times  
You go back to her  
And I go back to black"_

The crowd erupted into applause again and Santana beamed and laughed and bowed, passing the mic to Blaine before slipping to the side where the rest of the Warblers stood.

"Unfortunately, that's nearly it from us tonight," Blaine said into the mic that he'd clipped to a stand on the piano. The audience groaned theatrically and Blaine laughed. "I know. But to lead us out I'd like to sing one more song for you guys. This is Katy Perry's Teenage Dream,"

He played the piano softly, playing a stripped down version of the song.

"_You think I'm pretty  
Without any makeup on  
You think I'm funny  
When I tell the punch line wrong  
I know you get me  
So I let my walls come down, down_

_Before you met me  
I was a right but things  
Were kinda heavy  
You brought me to life  
Now every February  
You'll be my Valentine, Valentine_

_Let's go all the way tonight  
No regrets, just love  
We can dance, until we die  
You and I, will be young forever"_

The warblers hummed gently in the background, just finishing and perfecting the performance as Blaine hit the chorus.

"_You make me feel  
Like I'm livin' a  
Teenage dream  
The way you turn me on  
I can't sleep  
Let's run away and  
Don't ever look back,  
Don't ever look back_

_My heart stops  
When you look at me  
Just one touch  
Now baby I believe  
This is real  
So take a chance and  
Don't ever look back,  
Don't ever look back_

_I'm a get your heart racing  
In my skin tights jeans  
Be your teenage dream tonight  
Let you put your hands on me  
In my skin tight jeans  
Be your teenage dream tonight_

_Yoooouuu!  
... Make me,  
Feel like I'm livin' a  
Teenage dream  
The way you turn me on  
I can't sleep  
Let's run away and  
Don't ever look back,  
Don't ever look back. No_

_My heart stops  
When you look at me  
Just one touch  
Now baby I believe  
This is real  
So take a chance and  
Don't ever look back,  
Don't ever look back_

_I'm a get your heart racing  
In my skin tights jeans  
Be your teenage dream tonight  
Let you put your hands on me  
In my skin tight jeans  
Be your teenage dream tonight."_


	22. Texts, Videos and Hissy Fits

**A/N: Sorry for the long update wait guys, I sorta have exams and they're fucking boring! argh! Anyway, NEW CHAPTER! YAY! I love the way you guys keep telling me you love the songs I'm using; They just fit so well (I think) and I can really imagine the guys singing them and just having an awesome time (especially my warbler boys :P)  
**

**Thank You's for** _KeepCalmAndBeTotallyAwsome, OhhhSkyler, Charmedmich and xXxDracoAddictxXx_** I love you guys to pieces for the reviews and Charmedmich, this chapter has just what you asked for; Kurt's reaction to the video! I hope you enjoy it!****  
**

**Also, geez guys 13,000 hits! I love you all so much (ever you guys who don't review, just reading this is amazing)  
**

* * *

**Chapter 22**

"It was the best end to a holiday ever guys. I'm so glad you guys let me join you," Santana smiled as she hugged everyone in goodbye at the airport. Well, Blaine, the twins and Trent who were all staying in Los Angeles for Christmas.

"Oh but Sannie! It's just the beginning of the holidays! They're not over yet!" said Evan as he hugged the Cheerio, pulling her off her feet and causing her to laugh.

"Happy Christmas Santana," Blaine smiled as he hugged Santana.

"Happy birthday for the day after tomorrow" she laughed, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. "Don't let the twins go all mental on you, okay? Because I will still kick your asses when you get back for school in January if you do," she directed the last part and a stern finger at the two twins who stood to attention and saluted her.

"You really are her little soldiers," Blaine laughed.

"Watch who you're calling little Blaine. We're the same height as you," Ethan said, giving Blaine a look who just rolled his eyes.

"Go on then, have fun on the plane," Blaine laughed, watching Santana and the rest of the Ohio bound warblers ascending the jet's staircase. "Say hi to everyone when you get back!" Blaine called as she reached the top of the steps. She laughed, nodded, waved and slipped inside, letting the flight attendant shut the door securely behind her.

* * *

_Santana__:- You will not believe who is singing this! *- Play attached sound file? -*_

_You__:- OH MY GOD! Is that WESLEY? Singing Mama Do The Hump? Strike that RAPPING?_

_Santana__:- I know. I was so shocked I just had to record it. But seriously, he's pretty good. I'm glad David started playing music,_

_You__:- I just played it to the twins... they're rolling on the floor laughing, like literally. I guess that's twice I've seen them do that then_

_Santana__:- oh god, those idiots. I swear they fell right out of wonderland._

_You__:- I think in their heads, they're still there._

_Santana__:- Fair point._

* * *

_Santana__:- We just landed and Britt texted me saying she was gonna meet me at the airport! God I love her_

_You__:- Go get her tiger!_

* * *

_Santana__:- She told me I looked super hot Blaine! THANK YOU NEW YORK FASHION!_

_You__:- If you two aren't dating by the time we head back to school then there's something seriously wrong with you :P_

_Santana__:- Shut up!_

_Santana__:- She's asking me to her house for New Years!_

_Santana__:- From what she's describing, I think it's going to be just us there at her house for New Years. I'm not sure if that's intentional on her part, if she's realised what I think this means or if she just doesn't want to be on her own on the night._

_You__:- Chill. Take a deep breath. Relax some more. Gush to her about NY and LA and give her her xmas prezzies. You know she'll love them, especially that dinosaur_

_Santana__:- She said she named him Bernard from the moment she saw the picture I sent her. She says he looks like a Bernard._

* * *

"I can't believe him!" Rachel fumed as she entered Kurt's bedroom Sunday afternoon.

"Oh god, what has my brother said now?" Kurt groaned, sinking his face into his pillows.

"Oh not Finn, _Blaine_! He almost ruined one of my current favourite songs! Totally changed another one, and then he went and improved on one I barely like so now I just can't stop listening to it! Argh, it's so frustrating. But Mr Shue is just going to have to pair us for any duets this time round because-"

"Woah. Rachel, what in the hell are you on about?" Kurt asked, sitting upright and throwing the pillow behind him again.

"_Blaine._ Remember?" Rachel huffed annoyed, though probably more so at this point with Kurt for not keeping up.

"What about him? What's he done?" Kurt asked suspiciously.

"Dear god Kurt, don't you go on Facebook anymore?"

"Occasionally I guess." Kurt shrugged. He's lost interest in it in general as all it seemed to do was cause unnecessary gossip and drama and he found it way too boring to stay on for any longer after checking notifications and messages.

"Well, gimmie your laptop," Rachel said. Kurt eyed her warily but dug it out from its protective case from under his bed and turned it on. A few (impatient on Rachel's half) minutes later it was fired up and ready to go so Rachel went straight to Facebook, opening up Blaine's profile. There she pointed to the latest post; a video with several people tagged as being in it.

"_This_ is what I've been talking about Kurt. Watch it,"

She hit play and a few moments later the figures of several recognisable faces appeared on a small stage, Blaine at the front who stepped forward and began singing the lead of Hey Soul Sister.

"Oh my god... he's really good," Kurt mumbled before Rachel smacked him on the arm.

"We know that, we've seen him perform for Glee, Kurt. But listen,"

"Is this the one you said he almost ruined?"

"Yes! It's nothing like the original."

"Doesn't have to be, that's why it's a cover Rachel." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Well it's nothing like how I would've done it," Rachel huffed as the song came to an end.

"Oh shut up and let me watch Rachel," Kurt complained, turning the volume up a little more. The song ended to much applause from the audience around them in what seemed to be a small restaurant where they were performing. The warblers then started up a new song, one Kurt instantly recognised despite the a capella arrangement.

"Oh now this isn't fair," Kurt whined as Open Your Eyes was almost crooned to him through the video, Blaine's voice soft and gentle yet perfect for the song.

"See! Thank god we persuaded Blaine into joining because we need his talents. I mean, not that mine couldn't carry us to a Nationals win on their own-" Kurt promptly pushed her off the bed with a well aimed nudge. She grumbled at him from the floor before getting up again and sitting beside him once more as Santana began to sing.

"See, this is bad news for me, because Santana's bound to try for a solo now and she just might get it depending on Shue's mood or plan for Regional's."

"Rachel shut up. I'm trying to watch a damn video you forced me to watch in the first place. Let me freaking watch it." Kurt complained. That (finally) shut Rachel up as Blaine began to sing a stripped piano cover of Teenage Dream. Kurt couldn't believe his ears as he finally sat back in the pillows of his bed, the song finished and the screen black.

"Well?" Rachel prompted; clearly frustrated Kurt's reaction wasn't verbal.

"Well what?"

"Well don't you see how big a problem this is? He's going to steal the spotlight for regional's form both of us!"

"Oh please. Like I was ever in the running for it with you grabbing it at every chance." Kurt scoffed, exiting the video and Facebook and heading for his emails to check for any discount offers on labels he'd been really hoping to buy from.

"You should be more in it than him! But Mr. Shue loves him and always goes soft on him,"

"Um, what? Since when?" Kurt asked as he opened a new offer on Marc Jacobs.

"Since I don't know but he always goes soft on him in Spanish class and gives him these sympathetic looks sometimes and it seriously annoys me,"

"Do you not think that maybe he's going easy on him in Spanish is because Blaine's already said he can speak almost fluent Italian,"

"That's no excuse for slacking in Spanish Kurt," Rachel reprimanded.

"Well, I'm pretty sure the two languages have nothing in common and it's probably very confusing to learn a third very different language."

"Whatever," Rachel said, giving up in that line of attack. "What about the sympathetic looks? They're like Shuester is just so _sorry_ for him,"

"Maybe he knows more than we do about Blaine? Ever think about that, Nosey?" Kurt asked, sitting up and facing Rachel properly from where he'd admittedly been trying to block her out. "That maybe Mr. Shue has a reason for noticing things about Blaine that we probably skip over because we don't know to look for them?"

"Why didn't I think of that? Kurt you're a genius! I'll just ask Mr. Shue when we get ba-"

"No! Rachel, are you serious? Listen to yourself. Are you seriously considering going up to a teacher and asking them to divulge into something a fellow student has told them with confidence that it'll be kept between them?" Kurt asked. Rachel crossed her arms and bit her lip angrily, her reasoning slipping through her fingers like sand.

"Okay fine! But like, when did he learn so much Italian?" Rachel finally asked, changing the subject and causing Kurt to laugh.

"Because some of his family's Italian. He used to learn it when he was young to talk to his grandma." Kurt shrugged, returning to his laptop screen, ignoring Rachel's gawp.

"What?" she asked, astounded.

"I said-"

"-I know what you said I just... how do you... Kurt!" she stumbled.

"No, no. Keep going with that sentence. I'd like to see if it ever gets finished." Kurt smirked, opening a new window to check on an eBay auction.

"Kurt! How do you know that! Why don't you tell me these sorts of things? How much more do you know about Blaine? I... I..."

"_Jealous_," Kurt said in a smug singsong voice.

"Kurt!" Rachel practically yelled.

"What?" Kurt feigned ignorance. "So we used to be friends when we were little, no big deal,"

"What? No big deal!" Rachel spluttered. "When was this? Why aren't you still friends? Why have you never mentioned this before? What the hell happened to you two that means you _used to_ be friends?"

Rachel was reeling and although Kurt took some joy in it, he wasn't actually interested in answering any of the questions so he breathed a quite sigh of relief when his father yelled up the stairs that they needed to leave for the shop soon. Kurt powered down his laptop and slid his coveralls on over the top of his casual weekend outfit and all but pushed Rachel out of his bedroom door.

"Why won't you tell me anything?" Rachel huffed as she traipsed down the stairs after Kurt.

"Because I don't have to?" Kurt offered as he rolled down his sleeves.

"Why? I'm perfectly trustworthy enough to keep this a secret if it should be"

Kurt snorted loudly.

"Rachel, you really think I believe you on that? You blab to everyone about secrets. You're terrible at keeping them and there is almost no way in hell I trust you with any of mine. But I'll give you one thing, this is my past, and it's going to stay that way. Now leave it at that Rachel."

* * *

**A/N: SO guys? What do you think? Please drop a message  
(also****: sneek peek for next chapter: Blaine has the best. birthday. ever.)**


	23. Best Birthday Ever

**Thank you to my lovely Charmedmich and xXxDracoAddictxXx!  
to Charmedmich - Kurt's real reaction was far from calm but he was trying to cover his ass from Rachel. his internal monologue was something like **_'AAAAHHHH OH MY GOD SERIOUSLY LIKE SHUT UP RACHEL KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT BECAUSE I'M FREAKING OUT INTERNALLY HERE OVER THE FACT THAT BLAINE LOOKS TOO GOOD WHEN HE'S PERFORMING AND THOSE SONGS WERE AMAZING AND I'M JEALOUS AND ANNOYED BUT FOR SOME REASON I'M FUCKING WEIRDLY PROUD BECAUSE HE'S SO GOOD AT GETTING BACK UP WHEN PEOPLE KNOCK HIM DOWN AND FUCK MY BRAIN CAN'T YOU JUST WORK PROPERLY I'M GONNA GO NOW AND GO DISTRACT MYSELF WITH WORKING DOWN AT THE WORKSHOP BECAUSE I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW!_**' yeah, something like that. But I decided that it probably would've been better to leave it out because I can't really write incoherent internal monologues as much as Kurt would've understood his own.  
**

**To xXxDracoAddictxXx - Who KNOWS what Rachel Berry will do? (yeah I've not really decided much of it either yet but for now/for the holidays she's going to keep her mouth shut and decided the best plan of attack) and, just for you guys, I've added a little klaine scene at the end that I hadn't originally planned for but decided it would fit perfectly there so hey! enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 23 - Best. Birthday. Ever.**

_From: Santana Lopez  
To: Blaine Anderson  
Subject: Bernard_

BLAINERS!

Lol, I had to, I'm sorry. So how was your birthday? You still alive after being in close proximity to the Hartman idiots? And they did give you my present right? Because I told them to hide it until your birthday, but please dear god tell me you didn't open it in front of your parents like I told them not to let you. I'm kicking their butts if they did you know.

Also, Britt's decided she's permanently attached to Bernard, which I can't deny is super cute. She attaches his keychain onto her bag whenever she goes anywhere or carries him around just constantly hugging him. I think it's the cutest she's ever been which in my eyes is saying something. I think I might be getting there on the asking her out front. I'm totally planning on kissing her at midnight on new years. It's clichéd and something that I'm only admitting to you because you'll understand what this means to me (and hopefully to her too).

So c'mon, spill ALL of your cray cray happy birthday mishaps and embarrassments!

X

Auntie Tanna :P

* * *

_From: Blaine Anderson  
To: Santana Lopez  
Subject: Re: Bernard_

SANTANA! You could've warned me you were going to wrap up something like that! Although to be fair Cooper gave me something... similar. God it was a good thing Reed wasn't awake at that point. I think I might've DIED if I'd had to explain why I was bright red and holding a box of... those sorts of things from Cooper and you combined. Jesus you two are as bad as each other! He's gotten to you and you guys haven't even met! Urgh.

And that IS super cute of her, I'm so glad you spotted that dinosaur (I'm beginning to think she has a major thing for dinosaurs because her pencil case has them all over and now Bernard) and even though that IS cliché it's totally adorable. (Jealous you'll have someone to kiss at midnight, luck me I'll probably end up with my drunken idiot brother trying to kiss me and EW the thought of that and the realisation that's quite likely)

But apart from that sad and weird thought, these past two days have been UH-MAY-ZING! (Not because you're not here though). Yesterday at like lunchtime, Mom and Reed turned up but I didn't realise Coop and my dad were gonna be here too! So they're here, and we spent like, most of the day making snowmen with Reed and Coop in the Hartman's back yard, and then in their pool (which is the same size as Trent's one but in it's own outbuilding which is freaking awesome!

And then today I was woken up really early by Cooper being a dork and jumping on my bed and forcing me to open his and your presents before mom and dad and Reed came into my room. So I did and GEEZ the look of victory on Cooper's face! I would've laughed if I hadn't been freaking beetroot red. You guys are like twins I swear. But then after I'd hidden them from sight Reed ran into my room with the twins and they jumped on my bed and attack hugged me, which was fun. They then dragged me into the kitchen where my mom was making the BEST waffles EVER which she always does on my birthday and geez, when I get back I'm totally going to see if I can persuade her to make you and Britt some just to prove how amazing they are.

So we had breakfast and I opened the rest of my presents which were luckily family friendly (I got some awesome new clothes, some new guitar accessories, sheet music I've been searching for for months and not managed to find anywhere that sells them and a couple of other little things) and then the twins insisted on throwing me in the pool. Still in my pyjamas. I couldn't glare at them for long though because of the look on Reed's face, which was just hilarious with his tiny face scrunched up in laughter. I spent most of today just sorta chilling and relaxing and me and Reed made another snowman but we made a 'snowdog' so now one of the original snowmen's walking it. The twins produced a lead for it from somewhere (which scares me because they've never had a pet dog in their lives) so now they look really cool.

But then for dinner this evening my family took me out to that clubhouse place we sung at (D'Agostino's or something) and this is where it gets awesome. So we had our meal and then Coop told me he'd asked the twins to organize with the guys that worked there for me to go up and sing again, on my own this time. It was scary as hell but it was really fun and the audience really liked my music (because Cooper persuaded me into playing some of my own music). It was amazing! But then when I got back to my seat this guy came over and was all "wow that performance was awesome but I don't recognise some of your songs, are they your own?" and I was really surprised but was all "yeah they were," and then Cooper was all "My little brother's amazing" which was really nice. Then they guy introduced himself as ALAN MENKEN the guy who's doing the music for the new Disney film (which I'm super excited for) and so I started embarrassing myself by gushing about how his music is amazing (because he does like ALL the Disney soundtracks and you know I'm a dork because I love all things Disney) and he smiled and laughed when I shut myself up and apologized for the gushing. He said it was really cool that I was so enthusiastic about it and that he actually really loved my own music.

THAT, right then, was like the biggest compliment I could've ever been given.

And then he kicked it up a notch.

He said that they're kinda worried that they'll have to push the release date for Tangled (the new Disney film which is about Rapunzel and oh god do I want to go see that!) because they've still got some songs to even _write_ for it but then he offered me a chance to help them out and HOLY CRAP I was so excited and even Coop and Reed were. And he's invited me to the studios tomorrow to have a looksy through the clips they need a song for so that I can write for them and Mom and Dad, not only did they say I could do it, they were so excited for me! Mom's gonna come with me to the studio and probably stop me bouncing off the walls because HOLY CRAP SANTANA I'M GOING TO BE INVOLVED IN A DISNEY MOVIE!

I don't think my brain is really working right or something, like, I'm making this whole crap up. But when we got back to the Twins' place like 5 minutes ago (okay, maybe like 20 minutes ago because wow, this is like the longest email I've ever written and god I'm gushing so much and I don't even care okay!) I told him to pinch me so I knew this has seriously just happened.

And he jumped on me and crushed me in a bear hug.

But he was like, close to tears how happy he was/is for me. It's amazing. I have no idea how I deserved THIS but I am so not ever complaining.

So yeah, BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

X

'Uncle Bee'

Also, Cooper's just admitted to recording my performance :P so he wants me to send you the videos so you can see 'just how awesome little Blainey from tiny Lima is and how he's going to rock the world' (- actual quote, yeah me neither)

Wherever You Will Go

Don't you? - This is one of mine :)

Not Alone - Also mine and Cooper's favourite. Seriously he made me record it the summer after I wrote it for the play and he still has it on his iphone

Mean

And then we took a picture with Alan Menken so just flail a little (Because Cooper flails like fangirls a lot) here

I think best birthday ever is VERY accurate although it would've been cool if you were here too.

See you soon 'Auntie Tanna'!

(Cooper's looking at me weirdly for the names because he's reading over my shoulder and thinking I'm downplaying this. Seriously you're insane Cooper)

:D

* * *

_Kurt__:- Happy Birthday Blaine :)_

_You__:- You remembered_

_Kurt__:- There's this thing called Facebook Blaine,_

_You__:- I never put my birthday on Facebook_

Blaine stared at his cell phone in the darkness of his room, the brightness turned down as low as it would go but it's still blinding him. It's late just gone 10 here, so it must be crazy late in Ohio. But Kurt had decided to text him late at night to tell him happy birthday. The first time he'd been around for one in nearly six years now. Why does this make Blaine's heart flutter and stumble? Why does he still care? Why does he still let this all get to him?

Because.

Because Kurt was the first person who actually gave a crap about him properly. Because he can remember the day the first sat together on a playground bench. The day Kurt had sat next to his sorry, lonely little ass and held out his hand so formally, introducing himself. They'd shaken hands, Blaine had said his name and Kurt had suggested they be friends. They'd talked about what they liked (Disney, fairytales, friendship bracelets, arts and crafts, playing pretend games and dressing up) and disliked (Sports unless it was playing at the park, being tired, listening to people who were always so boring, the colour black because it was too dark and stupid and needed to cheer up a bit) and by the end of that lunch break, were well on their way to becoming best friends. By a week later and already clocking up two trips to each other's houses, it was practically official the two of them were inseparable.

And then they weren't anymore. Then it had ended in a cold harsh words that were as cold and harsh as the blue dye had felt as it hit his eyes and trickled down his spine.

_Kurt__:- Okay. Yes, I remembered_


	24. New Years, New Goals, New Relationships

**A/N Time!**

**Oh my god it's been a while hasn't it? I'm super super sorry! I got major writers block on this and decided to go back to another fic in the meantime so if you do like fics that update fairly regularly Called Out In The Dark should update every week or so. Gaahh here we go, it's review time!**

ImJustDefyingGravity** - Oh it's Santana and Cooper, clearly the most embarrassing things they could think of - a huge box of condoms, lube and other various sex related things! :P**

OhhhSkyler** - Emm... well... hold onto your hat and try not to faint or die please! Yay for Tangled! It is pretty awesome isn't it? (Also yay that you like the story!)**

xLizziexLupinx **- It will be super, super soon! (I hope). Basically (MAJOR SPOILERS HERE) once Blaine gets back from LA he and KURT (YES KURT) will have like, a big sit down and talk. Blaine explains his side of the story and Kurt his own. AAAnnd that's enough spoilers! SOrry!**

Charmedmich** - Hi Honey! I'm glad you liked the emails, I think they'll return in the next chapter, again to be between Blaine and Santana. That would be awesome but I'm not sure it would work :/ Kurt's still in Ohio so :( I would love to see them sings something disney together, maybe I'll write something in later? I son't know, I'll see how it fits.**

kawaii01 **- I'm glad you like it! He did but he was drunk and Kurt can keep secrets and kinda already knew so... *shrugs* I don't really know.**

**I really hope y'al like this next chapter! It runs from shortly after Blaine's b-day to New Years Ever (I kinda skipped Christmas, I'm sorry, it wasn't really much of an event that was important and I wanted to give you some stuffs to hopefully flail over and New YEars was full of it.**

* * *

**Chapter 24**

"Blaine?"

"Two minutes Cooper," Blaine said, scribbling furiously onto his music sheets.

"Blaine, take a break. You've been working on this for four days now. You need to get out of this room," Cooper sighed, leaning against the doorframe.

"Cooper it's almost finished!" Blaine said, somewhere between annoyance at his brother and excitement that it was all coming together.

"Really?"

"Yes!" Blaine smiled. "I'm just fiddling with it but it's almost done. Of course I'll want to run through it a couple of times with Alan to check he likes it and stuff but Coop it's essentially finished!"

"You... you are a massive workaholic dork. But you're an amazing workaholic dork," Cooper smiled proudly at Blaine when he finally looked up.

"Cheers Coop," Blaine laughed as he put his pencil down and stood up from his desk to stretch out his arms, wincing as they clicked loudly.

"Now come 'ere and let me hug my cray-cray brother." Cooper said, holding his arms out. Blaine laughed loudly but obliged as he stepped through the mess of first drafts that had tumbled to the floor and into his brother's arms for a bone-crushing bear hug.

"-Mphff. Coop, I would like to breathe you know," Blaine laughed breathlessly.

"Sorry Bee," Cooper laughed, slackening his grip a little.

"Also, you need to lessen up on the Tumblr usage. You're turning into a teenage fangirl,"

"Shut up. You love me for it,"

"I love you when you make sense," Blaine countered.

"You love me because of reasons," Cooper laughed.

"Again, I love you _when_ you make sense." Blaine laughed too, shoving his brother in the shoulder as he pulled back.

"Oh shut up." Cooper said, stretching an arm out to ruffle Blaine's hair but the smaller of the Anderson brothers ducked quickly in anticipation. "Anyway. Come out and eat something, Mom's just finished cooking lasagne and if you don't hurry up the twins will nab your plate,"

"Okay I'm going, geez Coop," Blaine laughed as Cooper all but dragged him from the room. He was quickly pulled down the long hallway and into the open plan dining room and kitchen and spotted the twins, Mrs Hartman and Reed already sat with plates of food as Michelle Anderson continued dishing up plates.

"He's alive!" teased Evan, pointing at Blaine who rolled his eyes as most of the others in the room turned his direction.

"Yes, I am alive Evan. Well spotted," Blaine said sarcastically as he slipped over to his mother at the kitchen counter.

"Nice to see you out of there." Michelle smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek as she dished up a place for him. "I was starting to think you'd found Narnia in there,"

"Nope," Blaine laughed. "But I'm basically finished on the song. I'm gonna call up Alan after we've eaten and tell him because I want to run through it with him and tweak it first before we record it," he then explained proudly as he picked up the plate he was offered.

"That's fantastic Blaine," Michelle smiled as she grabbed her own plate and followed Blaine to the table to take a seat between him and Reed.

"Blainers is actually going to be in a Disney movie to match his Disney prince face!" chirped Ethan and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"I don't look like a Disney prince Ethan," Blaine said as he tucked into his food.

"If anything I'm the real Prince Eric here," Cooper said, flashing an over the top grin and pulling a heroic pose.

"No, you're the airhead Prince Derek," Blaine said, poking his brother in the side.

"Swan Princess isn't Disney Blainers," Cooper pointed out.

"Still fits your personality though," Blaine shrugged, shovelling a forkful into his mouth with a grin at Cooper's mock hurt expression.

"You're just jealous because people on Tumblr love me,"

"Cooper you have like, 30 followers," Blaine said through his mouthful.

"Boys. Manners," Michelle said pointedly. Blaine held up a hand in admittance and swallowed his mouthful.

"Sorry Mom," he said. "But in my defence even you said that Cooper still acts like a child,"

"Hey! _Mom_!" Cooper whined earning a laugh from all of those around the table.

* * *

"_Hello?"_

"Alan? It's Blaine, Blaine Anderson." Blaine said nervously into the phone later that night.

"_Blaine! How's it going man?"_ Came Alan's enthusiastic voice through the speaker.

"Good; great even! I finished writing the duet this evening." Blaine said happily.

"_No...? Seriously? But it's only been four days! How... you are __**good**__,__my man."_

"Thanks," Blaine laughed happily, giddy on the praise coming from a guy like Alan Menken. "Of course, I'd love to go through it with you first to check it's okay and edit it a little to get it just perfect."

"_Why of course! Of course! Is tomorrow okay? We have a fair few of the musicians in tomorrow as well so if we finish tweaking it we can get started on recording it. Oh this is just perfect Blaine! I can't believe you've managed to finish the song in four days, though, do tell what it's called,"_

"Tomorrow would be perfect actually, and I decided to call it '_I See The Light_'." Blaine explained.

"_How fitting, what with the lanterns all around in the scene. Oh, I am very excited to see how it all comes together."_

"I really hope you like it sir," Blaine said, his insides squirming

* * *

"How'd it go?" Michelle asked as Blaine flopped onto the sofa next to her no more than five minutes later. She held a large mug of hot chocolate complete with marshmallows between her hands, letting the heat radiate through her hands as she watched the peacefully sleeping form of Reed who was curled up on the other sofa.

"Awesome," Blaine smiled shyly. "He's excited to hear it,"

"That amazing baby," she smiled, sipping her hot chocolate as Blaine sunk happily lower into the sofa cushions.

"I thought we agreed 'baby' was Reed," he huffed playfully.

"I thought we agreed you three are all still my babies," Michelle countered.

"Touché," Blaine laughed. "Either way then, can I steal one of your marshmallows?"

"If you can get it without burning your fingers," Michelle laughed, holding the mug out slightly.

"Challenge accepted." Blaine smirked as he leaned forward. The marshmallow unfortunately thought it was game on too as the moment it came into contact with Blaine's fingers it slid under the surface of the almost boiling liquid and Blaine let out a small growl of annoyance until his finally grabbed it. "Ha-HA! Blaine 1 - Marshmallow 0" Blaine smiled proudly as he threw the marshmallow in his mouth to the sound of Michelle's laughter.

"You're such an idiot sometimes Blaine," she smiled.

"Yeah, well. Can't all be perfect," he shrugged as he wiped his fingers on his jeans and she rolled her eyes. They fell silent for a moment, Blaine ignoring the tingle in his fingers from his fight with the marshmallow and Michelle sipping at her hot chocolate once more, sighing contently.

"D'you think I'm doing the right thing mom?" Blaine blurted out after a minute, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Of course you are sweetie. What would make you think otherwise?" she asked.

"Well, just... this was meant to be a family holiday and it's nearly Christmas and I've spent the past four days locked away in my room writing music." Blaine explained, his brow furrowing in worry too.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." Michelle added. "Blaine you are getting an amazing chance here with this, and I'll be damned if you don't get everything you can out of it. Yeah, I'd like to see a little more of you, but this is your dream and who am I to stand in front of it because I miss you? It's huge and amazing and _Disney_for Christ's sake Bee. This is the sort of thing I'd hoped you might one day get to do when you were older anyway. Instead you race ahead of my hopes for you and do it when you're my little seventeen year old genius Bee,"

"I'm not a genius mom," Blaine shrugged.

"You are a little. And you are a lot in my eyes. And, though Cooper would pull a sulk if he heard, you're cleverer than him."

"I won't tell him," Blaine laughed quietly, careful not to wake his little brother. "But like, really? You really want me to do this?"

"_Yes_ Blaine. I want you to do your best so that you're proud of this. I want this to be the first thing on your undoubtedly soon-to-be impressive résumé of all sorts of crazy things I'm sure you'll do. I want this to be a huge 'fuck you' to all those assholes at Carmel High,"

"_Mom_!" Blaine hissed, "Reed's only on the other sofa,"

"He's asleep honey, he can't hear me. But I mean it. I am so_, so_ proud of you honey and I always will be," she said putting down her mug on the coffee table and wrapping her arms around Blaine's shoulders.

"I love you mom," Blaine smiled into her shoulder, sinking down in his seat and relaxing.

"I love you too Blainey," she smiled back, hugging him tight.

* * *

The next day Blaine spent nearly 8 hours in the recording studio. The first 2 were running over final tweaks to the music, the rest was all recording the backing track. All of the musicians were amazingly kind and picked up their parts easily. Blaine was honestly surprised how quickly everything pulled together. He was overwhelmingly flattered when Alan insisted he record the guiding voice for the track for the next day's recording with Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi. He sort of knew there would be a sort of example voice on the track for when they recorded so they had someone to follow as such, but he'd never expected them to ask him. So by the time Saturday rolled around, and he was being introduced to the stars of the film Blaine was very, very nervous.

Also, very star struck.

In retrospect he needn't have been so worried about making a good impression on the two of them.

Zach was just this ball of praise as soon as he heard the backing track for the first run through, saying; "Wow, you wrote this? This is awesome man!"

Mandy was a gushing ball of excitement. She was very like her character in that aspect as she spent forever talking to him as Zach recorded his part. She was so excitable she was comparable to the twins or Cooper and she was so easy to slip comfortable into conversation with. So easy that her and Blaine spent the hour and a half that it took to get Zach's part perfected talking non-stop. They were so absorbed in conversation they nearly missed Mandy's call to start recording her part. They made a good pair and by the end of the day Mandy insisted she get Blaine's number and told him she was already looking forward to seeing him on the red carpet come the premiers.

"It's an amazing track Blaine," congratulated Alan, clapping Blaine on the shoulder.

"Thank you sir. That means a lot to hear it from you," Blaine blushed with pride.

"D'you reckon you'd be up to writing another song for us? Everyone here's loved your work and the final product for _I See The Light_ is just amazing." Alan propositioned.

"R-really?" Blaine stuttered in surprise.

"Of course, we'd hate to steal you over the holidays, so how about after the new year we get you back to watch some more footage and hopefully start working on another song?" asked one of the music editors -_Brian, his name's Brian, you idiot _thought the teenager.

"Really? I'd love to come and work for you again," Blaine beamed.

"Excellent!" beamed Alan, clapping Blaine's shoulder once more.

* * *

"It's New Years Eve at the Hartman residence and this is what I have to deal with," Blaine laughed as he pointed the handheld video camera at the scene before him. The twins were practically bouncing off the walls (someone had given them copious amounts of sugar and that alone was a recipie for disaster), Reed was running around with the small air guitar toy he'd received for Christmas, strumming wildly through the air and giggling at the various notes it played him, Cooper was currently on the phone to one of his friends, bottle of beer in hand as he laughed loudly, Mr. and Mrs Anderson were chatting happily along to the Hartman's parents as they awaited the countdown to new years, and Blaine stood somewhere in the midst of it all, filming his surroundings and avoiding narrowly the twins running madly around the house.

"Blaine! Blaine! Watch me play!" Reed smiled happily as he bounded up to his brother, strumming through the air and playing something that sounded almost like a tune.

"That's awesome Reedles! You gonna be a rockstar when you're all grown up?" Blaine asked.

"Maybe. But I'm goin' a be like you Bee!" he beamed, dimples showing as he pushed his curly hair out of his eyes.

* * *

"It's nearly new years people!" Called Rachel drunkenly, raising her drink high as the group around the room cheered. The New Directions members sat in various states of drunkenness, some sprawled over sofas or dancing around the stage area in Rachel's basement. Sam sat sullenly though in a corner, away from the fray as he looked over jealously at his supposed girlfriend who was lip-locked with Puck.

"Hey Sam," Mercedes said with a smile as she took a seat beside him. "You okay?"

"Not really," he sighed, nodding in the direction of Quinn and Puck.

"Oh. That's... that's rough honey." Mercedes sighed sadly, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I thought she liked me," he said, leaning his head back against the wall.

* * *

"It's nearly time Britt," Santana smiled as they sat cuddled together on Brittany's sofa, the TV on watching the countdown.

"I bet next year is going to be just the best," Britt smiled, leaning into Santana's shoulder.

"I bet it is." Santana smiled. "Britt do you know the special New Years ritual?"

"No. There's a ritual?" she asked, sitting up a little straighter in confusion.

"It's this thing where, when two people love each other, they kiss right as it turns New Year and it's meant to be good luck." Santana explained a little nervously.

"Oh! Mom and Dad do that every year," Britt smiled in understanding.

"Well, I was hoping to get to kiss the person I loved this year on New Year." Santana hedged, wondering if Britt would understand where she was heading.

"Oh! That's awesome. But you haven't got much time left Sannie," Britt said. "Who were you hoping to kiss?"

* * *

"Urgh, and there I was hoping someone would kiss me on new years," Sulked Sugar slightly.

"Hey, you still got time yo," Artie smiled, pulling her into a hug.

"I just, I've never had anyone kiss me on new years before. I kinda hoped this year would be different," Sugar sighed.

"C'mere girl," Artie smiled, beckoning her to sit on his lap. She did so carefully so as not to tip his chair. "Someone'll get you this year girl. I know they will."

* * *

**"FIVE!"**

* * *

"To 2012 guys!" Called the twins, glasses raised as they stood in front of the fireplace in the living room.

* * *

**"FOUR!"**

* * *

"I was hoping on kissing you Britt," Santana smiled nervously. "You're the person I love,"

* * *

**"THREE!"**

* * *

"I was hoping to kiss her at midnight. All romantic and stuff," Sam sighed.

"You could kiss someone else...?"

"Like?"

* * *

"**TWO!"**

* * *

"Me?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah," Santana smiled sheepishly.

* * *

"**ONE!"**

* * *

"How do you know Artie?"

"I just do," he smiled.

* * *

"**ZERO! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"**

* * *

"I'd like that," Brittany smiled and Santana beamed back at her, swooping in for a kiss as the clocks chimed on the TV screen before them.

* * *

Mercedes leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Sam's lips. He gasped slightly but rested his hand on her cheek, keeping her there and drawing her closer. When they finally pulled back, Mercedes was having trouble keeping control over her blush.

"Happy New Year," she smiled at him.

"It is, isn't it?" Sam smiled back, a little giddy as he dove in for another kiss.

* * *

Sugar giggled happily when Artie drew back from their kiss, a blush high on her cheeks but a smile on her face.

"Happy New Year Artie," she smiled.

"Happy New Year Sugar," he smiled back, brushing her bangs gently out of her eyes.


End file.
